eli5 why do high-mass stars live for a shorter period of time than low-mass stars
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The more mass the stars have, the more pressure there is at their cores, and so the faster the fusion reaction takes place. The fusion reaction outpaces the mass as you add more mass, so a higher mass star, despite having more fuel, burns that fuel *much* faster.
Normally, stars only burn the mass in their cores. In the smallest stars (red dwarfs), there are actually convection currents that move matter throughout the star. This means that they can use their *entire* mass as a fuel source, not just their core mass, which extends their lifetimes even more.
It is, of course, more complicated than this, but you can sort of think of it like the difference between a sports car with a 20 gallon tank running at full throttle versus an economy car cruising along at the speed limit.
Even though the sports car has more gas, it’s going to run out quicker, because it is burning it quicker.
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