Total newbie question - ice in supernovas

[beri]

Hi there,

I am pretty ignorant on this topic and was hoping someone on this site could help me.

When a supernova explodes - does it leave ice in the debris along with the gas and rock?

So for example, a comet is formed of gas, dust and ice and trails it behind.

Does a supernova do the same thing - ie, leave a lot of ice around?

Anyone know?


thnx

[astroron]

:hi:Beri:shrug:and welcome:) a supernova is a the resulting explosion of a star with a mass of over eight times the mass of the Sun.
There is no rocks or ice or any other solid matter, as a star is made primarily of super heated gases, mainly hydrogen and helium with a smattering of other gases.
I hope this helps :)
Ron

[erick]

Supernovae generate all the heavier elements, but not molecules like water (if that is the "ice" you mean - "ice" is sometimes used to refer to other solidified liquids). Such molecules would form as the elements cool down. The hydrogen existed from the beginning of the Universe. Oxygen is formed in most stars, not only in nova and supernovae.

Some reading:-

http://ftp.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit3/supernova.html

and the actual lecture to listen to:-

http://ftp.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Audio/Lect18.mp3 (16MByte mp3 file)

[beri]

Thanks guys, that was really helpful. I did some web research but didn't know where to look and wasn't able to find the information I was after.

Appreciate you taking the time to answer. Thanks for the links erick :)

[renormalised]

You may get water forming from the results of a supernova explosion but only a fairly long time after the actual explosion. Once the gas and dust formed in the explosion has had enough time to cool down to the point where water can condense out on the tiny dust grains that form in the debris after the explosion. The dust grains act as condensation nuclei for the ice crystals that form...much the same way as the process happens to form clouds here on Earth.