What determines whether a star eventually becomes a black dwarf or a neutron star?

Answer 1

The stars solar mass, or relative size to the sun. If its gravity is big enough, when it does condense in on itself, it will create a black hole. If not, it will form a highly dense clump of matter, or a Neutron Star If the stars mass is more than 3 solar masses, it will form a black hole. If it is less, it will form a neutron star

Answer 2

The mass of the star. If the star has a mass of less than eight solar masses, it is considered average and will become a white dwarf at the end of its life (it will eventually cool to become a black dwarf). If the star is between eight and fifteen solar masses, it will become a neutron star. Any star with a mass more than 15 times that of our Sun will become a black hole.

Answer 3

Solar mass - Using the Earth's Sun as the basis for solar mass, the following hypotheses have been formed:

A typical neutron star has a mass between about 1.4 and 3.2 solar masses.

A black dwarf is a hypothetical stellar remnant, created when a white dwarf becomes sufficiently cool enough to no longer emit significant heat or light. Since the time required for a white dwarf to reach this state is calculated to be longer than the current age of the universe (13.8 billion years), no black dwarfs are expected to exist in the universe yet, and the temperature of the coolest white dwarfs is one observational limit on the age of the universe. Black dwarfs should not be confused with black holes or neutron stars, which actually do exist. A white dwarf is what remains of a main sequence star of low or medium mass (below approximately 9 to 10 solar masses), after it has either expelled or fused all the elements which it has sufficient temperature to fuse.

A typical black hole is due to gravitational collapse, which will usually occur on any compact star of between 10 and 25 solar masses.

Answer 4

That is determined by the mass of the star and how much of it is left behind in the stellar remnant.