Wednesday, 30 November 2011

astrophysics - When is it a good aproximation to consider a star to be an ideal gas?

I am currently taking a first course on stellar astrophysics, and I noticed that in some cases we use the ideal gas equation of state for stars, so we also use gamma=5/3gamma=5/3. Of course it can only be applied where there is no nuclear reaction, so there is a limit in the temperature.



Also, if the radiation pressure if relevant, you have to consider the parameter betabeta to calculate the total pressure and the adiabatic coefficient gammagamma. It is also incorrect (I think) if there are degeneration or relativistic considerations.



I don't know if I have to consider other factors before I can use this equation of state and value for gammagamma, maybe it is important if it is a convective or radiative area, or other factors I didn't consider.



My question is: can anybody tell me the limits of the ideal gas approximation? (quantitative better than qualitative but any help will be well received)

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