Gas diffusion in space.

Question

Hey all,

I was wondering about how stars are made from gas clouds. Shouldn’t gas always diffuse within the container it is in? In this case, diffuse into space?

So how do gas clouds accumulate enough mass to form a star, instead of all gas diffusing into empty space?

Thanks for any insights!

In: 2

Answer 1

Gravity. And some magnetism via static electricity. A cloud of gas that results in the creation of a star is ENORMOUS. We are talking 100s of times the mass of plant earth. That’s many trillions of times more particles than if every human in existence became a vape-lord and puffed 24/7.