During initial collapse, gravitational potential energy is first converted into what form of energy that heats the gas?
Answer
Kinetic energy
The process of stellar collapse involves a dramatic transformation of energy as the nebula shrinks under the sustained force of gravity. Initially, the stored gravitational potential energy possessed by the mass distributed across the large cloud volume is converted as the material falls inward. This conversion directly yields kinetic energy in the in-falling gas particles. These energized particles then crash into one another, and it is this subsequent collision process that converts the kinetic energy into thermal energy, raising the cloud's temperature and thereby increasing the opposing outward pressure.
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