How are stars and black holes born?
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This is a SUPER BASIC LAYMANS explanation.
**Star birth:**
A nebula is a gaseous cloud of lighter elements like hydrogen, the building blocks of stars. Nebulae are often referred to as stellar nurseries because they are where stars are born.
Gravity causes the elements in the nebula to swirl together into clumps. Eventually, the mass of “dust” becomes so large that gravity starts to compress it, and the compression heats it up. This continues until there is so much heat and pressure that nuclear fusion can occur. Fusion starts, and hydrogen atoms are fused into helium atoms, releasing a massive quantity of energy and heat, and the star is “lit.” Over time, as the star ages, lighter elements are fused into heavier elements, which is how these heavier elements exist in the first place.
**Black Hole:**
An EXTREMELY massive star is reaching the end of its life. It is running out of elements to fuse, so the energy that pushes outward from the center of the star no longer matches the gravitational force of all the mass that made up the star. The immense gravitational force causes the star to collapse inwards.
The result of this collapse depends on the mass of the star, but the most massive stars collapse inwards to the point that the matter becomes extraordinarily densely packed. This now tiny object is so dense and has so much mass that its gravitational force is extremely powerful. In fact, the gravitational forces are so powerful that not even light can escape. This is a black hole.
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