Final answer:
c. Conservation of energy plays a crucial role in the life and death of a star. As stars exhaust their nuclear fuel, their internal pressure decreases, causing them to collapse under their own weight. This leads to the star's death.
Step-by-step explanation:
The conservation of energy plays a crucial role in the life and death of a star. Throughout their lives, stars generate energy through nuclear fusion in their cores. This energy is then radiated away as electromagnetic radiation, which helps to balance the inward force of gravity.
However, as stars exhaust their nuclear fuel, they no longer have a source of energy production, and their internal pressure decreases. This causes the star to collapse under its own weight, leading to its death.
For example, in a star similar to the Sun, the formation of a carbon-oxygen core marks the end of nuclear energy generation at the star's center. Without energy production to counteract the force of gravity, the star collapses and dies.
Therefore, option c) is the correct answer - conservation of energy ultimately causes a star's death through energy loss.