Talk:Carbon detonation

Remark
Regarding the Robin S edit on 4 May 2007: the edit comment says "comparison with deflagration irrelevant as there is no speed of sound in space to use as a reference point." This rationale is mistaken; according to the Wikipedia "Speed of sound" article, "sound is a vibration that travels through an elastic medium as a wave." The medium cited in the Carbon Detonation article is not space; it is the material of which the core of the star is made: mostly carbon in this case.

The article on Deflagration explains that deflagration is combustion propagating subsonically - i.e., slower than kinetic waves would move through the medium (be it star core or terrestrial atmosphere or seawater or whatever), whereas detonation is combustion at supersonic speeds in that medium that "propagates through shock compression."

In other words, carbon detonation is an explosion of the carbon in the star's core, and it wouldn't hurt to explain the "detonation" concept in this Carbon Detonation article. Memetics (talk) 08:57, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Regarding the proposed merge
I'm skeptical about the proposed merge. There is very little here that is not already presented in more detail on the Type Ia supernova article, and the latter is better sourced. A redirect would serve about as well.&mdash;RJH (talk) 18:04, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

"dead star"? my guess is, an edit is needed here
Currently the article says

If the companion supplies enough matter to the dead star, ...

The term "dead star" isn't defined in the article. I'm not expert here, but I think the author intends it to be a synonym for "white dwarf." In any case, the sentence doesn't read well in its present state. Oaklandguy (talk) 03:29, 28 February 2016 (UTC)