You are in a place that is extremely hot and dense. You can't see far because your surroundings are opaque to light. Around you, nuclear fusion is converting carbon into oxygen and other elements. Where are you?

A) You are in the center of a star very much like our Sun

B) You are in the early universe during the era of nucleosynthesis

C) You are inside a nuclear power plant on Earth.

D) You are in the center of a massive star near the end of its life.

E) You are in the center of a star much smaller than the Sun

Question

Geography

Imogen

20 May, 04:42

You are in a place that is extremely hot and dense. You can't see far because your surroundings are opaque to light. Around you, nuclear fusion is converting carbon into oxygen and other elements. Where are you?

A) You are in the center of a star very much like our Sun

B) You are in the early universe during the era of nucleosynthesis

C) You are inside a nuclear power plant on Earth.

D) You are in the center of a massive star near the end of its life.

E) You are in the center of a star much smaller than the Sun

+3

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Yasmine Wells · Answer 1

Option D is correct.

Explanation:

When a massive main-sequence star reaches the end of its life, helium runs out, and the star starts to fuse carbon into oxygen, nitrogen, and iron.

When all that remains in the core its iron, the nuclear fusion stops, since iron cannot be fused into heavier elements with those conditions, and within a few seconds, the star begins its final phase.

As the iron atoms are crushed, the core heats up to 100 billion degrees, the force of this reaction overcomes gravity, and the star blows into a supernova.