A quantitative exercise on the mass–luminosity and mass–lifetime relations for main sequence stars in an introductory college astronomy course

摘要

What follows is a description of a simple quantitative exercise developed for students of a general education introductory astronomy course in which they discover for themselves the mass–luminosity and mass–lifetime relations for stars on the main sequence of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. Besides providing a demonstration of two fundamental relationships in stellar astronomy, the exercise also provides an example of the process of scientific experimentation.