What leads massive stars to have significantly shorter lifespans than smaller stars?
Answer
They consume their hydrogen fuel at a much faster rate to prevent gravitational collapse
Although massive stars contain more total fuel, they face an immense inward pull of gravity due to their size. To counteract this force and maintain hydrostatic equilibrium, the star must sustain a very high internal pressure, which requires burning hydrogen at an extremely rapid rate. This accelerated fuel consumption causes massive stars to exhaust their energy reserves in only a few million years, whereas smaller stars like red dwarfs burn their fuel slowly over trillions of years.
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