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Originally Posted by stitt29
A question about supernova. I assumed when a star became a supernova it exploded and it threw out all its matter for miles. Then I read the star doesn't explode it collapses into a denser body all that is ejected is a shockwave and heat and light. Which is correct?
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Both.
There are at least two types of supernovae where runaway nuclear fusion produces so much energy in a short time that the whole star is unbound and explodes leaving no remnant. Type I collapsing white dwarf (slightly less massive than Chandrasekhar limit), and a pair instability supernova.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stitt29
To escape a planets gravitational pull requires the projectile to be moving at X m/s if the star collapses into a denser body the gravitational pull will increase requiring an even faster speed for any projectile. If the star collapses and becomes a dark hole not even light can escape this gravitational pull. Just wondering how heavy elements are supposed to have spread throughout the universe taking all this into account
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While a star might collapse all into a black hole, there are several reasons why it might not. One is the rotation of a star. If a star is large, even though it rotates slowly, the outer layers would have to rotate faster than light to fall on the black hole, which is impossible - so the only thing they can do is get heated and thrown out.