Why does the temperature of a star increase when it contracts?

During stellar evolution, there are many times a star contracts due to changes in pressure that disrupts the star's hydrostatic equilibrium. Why does the temperature increase when this happens? Thinking about it in terms of the ideal gas law, as volume decreases the temperature should decrease as well. I know there is a change in pressure too, but I don't know which is more to explain the huge increase in temperature. Perhaps I am thinking about it wrong. Anyone have any clue why this is?Why does the temperature of a star increase when it contracts?1 stars are not gasses...they are primarily plasma phase of matter. Expect the ideal gas law to not do as well as you think it should do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLkGSV9WD鈥?/a>



#2 the ideal gas law doesn't necessarily set the boundary condition you need to answer this question.



You are trying to look at one of the subset gas laws....like Charles law. Remember...Charles law is only applicable if pressure is the same before and after the process.



You would be better off modeling it as an adiabatic compression. Adiabatic means negligible heat transfer...as in the process happens so quickly that no significant amount of heat has time to transfer.



It is a common problem of Engineering to use adiabatic processes of an ideal gas...and we derive the following relation between volume and temperature:

T2/T1 = (V1/V2)^(k - 1)



where k is the adiabatic index of that particular flavor of gas.Why does the temperature of a star increase when it contracts?The temperature goes up because the same amount of heat now occupies a smaller volume. This is also how refrigeration works, but in reverse. If you expand something, the heat occupies a larger volume and the temperature goes down. Heat and temperature are sort of analogous to mass and density. If something contracts, the mass stays the same but the density goes up. Also, the amount of heat stays the same but the temperature goes up.Why does the temperature of a star increase when it contracts?Add to that (the extra pressure in the core) they shift to the fusion of heavier elements (produced from an earlier fusion stage of a lighter element) which will need more heat.



Clear skies!Why does the temperature of a star increase when it contracts?
replace the word sun with ******** and you got your answer!!