What is the main gas that stars use as fuel?

Answer 1

Hydrogen. In the case of stars, the energy is nuclear, released by the fusion of hydrogen atoms into heavier helium nuclei.

For protostars, the energy is released from gravitational collapse rather than nuclear fusion. Eventually the stellar core works up enough heat and pressure for fusion to commence.

Answer 2

stars generally use hydrogen as fuel during the most part of their lifetimes. The hydrogen atom fuse together under the immense temperatures and pressures to produce helium atoms. This is a nuclear fusion reaction that in itself produces vast amounts of energy.

Answer 3

Yes, stars run out of fuel eventually. When stars are formed, their core is mostly made of compressed hydrogen and helium, which the star will use to supply its energy during its lifetime. When the core eventually becomes smaller and smaller due to the lack of hydrogen/helium, the star has no more fuel, and dies. Stars die, they are living things, just like any one of us. Depending on the size of the star, there are different kinds of ways stars can die. If they are small or regular size stars, they will most likely expand slightly and the shrink into a white dwarf star, in which form it will spend the rest of its days, until it completely uses up its fuel supply and dies off slowly. But for large stars or superstars, there is a much more dramatic death, called a supernova. When the large star or superstar is almost completely drained of fuel, it releases an intense amount of energy which results in a huge, dramatic explosion that we call supernova. After the supernova, the stars shrivel out. Occasionally, superstars that orbit another star in the same system can collapse upon their sister star, becoming a black hole.

Answer 4

A star does not "burn" any fuel, which would be oxidation. The immense energy of stars is produced by nuclear fusion, the combining of atomic nuclei (hydrogen in our Sun) into larger nuclei (such as helium) and the resulting conversion of a small percentage of their matter into a large amount of energy. This takes place near the star's core, where its gravity compresses and heats atomic nuclei to extremely high temperatures. The temperature is increased further by the release of fusion energy, which is conducted to the surface of the star and radiated into space. This fusion process is more or less identical to the process that occurs briefly and violently in a thermonuclear explosion (hydrogen bomb).

As helium accumulates in the core of the star, some is eventually fused into heavier elements, which are fused into elements that are heavier still. This is how the preponderance of hydrogen in the early universe has been turned into heavier chemical elements. Over billions of years, a star's hydrogen is exhausted and changes occur in the star's size, density, and core processes.

Answer 5

Hydrogen