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Old 01-21-2013, 09:41 PM
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Pan Narrans Pan Narrans is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Default Re: Drive by science

:unnod:

The difference is rather important; dust particles and molecules of heavier elements are particularly effective at cooling the gas, thereby making the collapse into a protostar that much easier. Hydrogen and helium cannot cool as effectively by themselves, meaning that you need a really massive amount of gas for the self gravity to overcome the internal pressure. Hence the high mass of the first-generation stars.
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