The Mass Diagram

Here is something that isn't anything breakthrough but I haven't seen it before. If a mass in space is increasing, with more matter being added, it will pass through four zones, which have different characteristics. In the following diagram, the diagonal red line represents the mass, and the blue arrow it's increase. Between the black lines are the four zones.

The lowest zone, where the object has the least mass, is the Molecular Zone. This is where the molecular structural bonds in a solid mass are more important than the internal gravity of the mass. The result is that the mass will typically have no well-defined shape or form. In a gaseous mass at this stage, the atoms or molecules are held together by gravity, but also in no well-defined shape or form.

As the mass increases, it enters the second zone from the bottom. This is the Atomic Zone and it is where the internal gravity of the object overtakes the structural bonds in importance. This shows up as the object becoming spherical in form. The sphere is the default gravitational form of matter in the universe because the sphere is the three-dimensional form with the least information and energy and the lowest surface area per volume. This is why planets and stars are spherical. This mass zone can be seen in the Asteroid Belt. The asteroids are generally irregular in form, placing them in the Molecular Zone. Only the largest one, Ceres, seems to have entered the Atomic Zone and is spherical in form.

As the mass increases still more, it enters the Radiation Zone. Atoms are kept from merging into one another by the mutual like-charge repulsion of the electrons in orbitals around each atom. The Radiation Zone is where the internal gravity of the object is enough, due to it's increased mass, to crunch smaller atoms together into larger ones. The new large atom has less internal energy than the ones that were crunched together to form it. The excess energy is released as radiation. We have what is known as a star and this is why stars shine. We can see how this works with two spherical lumps of clay. If we measure their overall surface area and then put the two lumps together into one, we see that the overall surface area has decreased. The surface area represents energy and the excess is released as radiation.

If the mass increases still more, far beyond the mass of most stars, it enters the Energy Zone. Although it likely would have gained this additional mass as it was building toward the Radiation Zone. These are stars which will eventually explode in a supernova. Before exploding in a supernova, the star may blast off it's outer layers one or more times, in an effort to regain equilibrium. This is known as a nova. What happens if the star is, as time goes on, fusing successively heavier elements together, this releases more energy per time and it upsets the equilibrium between the inward force of gravity and the outward release of energy. This imbalance causes the outermost layers of the star to be blasted away, in a nova, or the star to explode from the center, in a supernova. We know that the sun is a second-generation star and that our solar system resulted from a large star that exploded.

This diagram only applies to matter that is made of atoms, and is about the effect that the mass has on those atoms. I didn't include such things as neutron stars and black holes because these are not based on total mass, but on a concentration of mass. Any mass can be a black hole, at least theoretically, if it is concentrated enough that all components of matter, atoms, protons, neutrons, quarks and, electrons, have broken down.