What does the chemical abundance found in population I stars tell us about them?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The chemical abundance found in population I stars indicates that the material they formed from had been enriched with material from supernovae. This enrichment means that the stars contain heavy elements like carbon, oxygen, and iron, which are produced in the cores of massive stars and released into space when they explode as supernovae. This is consistent with the fact that population I stars are typically younger and more massive than population II stars, which formed from earlier generations of stars that had not yet produced as many heavy elements.

What Does the Chemical Abundance Found in Population I Stars