Selling the Stars
Activity:
Students advertise stellar characteristics by creating travel brochures.
Science Standards:
Patterns of Change, Systems & Interactions and Stability &
Equilibrium
Objectives:
The student will list, describe, illustrate, and report stellar characteristics
for stars at different stages of their life-cycle.
Materials:
resource material describing stars of varying life-stages
colored markers
poster board or paper for brochures
other AV equipment as needed for presentations
Introduction:
Stars are formed by the gradual collapse of enormous clouds of hydrogen
gas and dust. When these protostars become dense enough in the center to
sustain the nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, they become main sequence
stars. While a main sequence star, the sphere is in hydrostatic equilibrium:
outward radiation pressure balanced by the inward pull of gravity. The
larger the star, the faster it depletes its hydrogen fuel reserves and
eventually becomes unstable. The star's inner helium-laiden core shrinks
and the exterior expands and cools; the star becomes an enormous red giant.
Eventually, the red giant's outer atmosphere is expelled in the form of
a planetary nebula. The remaining helium core, small and hot, is known
as a white dwarf. The cores of stars that were originally very massive
(many more times than the Sun), become neutron stars or pulsars in a supernova
process. These stars are so dense that the neutrons from adjacent atoms
are sitting right next to one another.
Directions:
1. Assign groups of students a star from a particular part of its life-cycle.
2. Their task is to create a travel brochure, poster, and oral presentation
to convince their classmates that they need to visit this star to observe
its individual characteristics. Furthermore, their task is to demonstrate
to the teacher that they know the principle characteristics and processes
of their object.