Editing Convection zone (section)

{{Short description|Region of a star}}
[[File:Structure of Stars (artist’s impression).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|An illustration of the structure of the [[Sun]] and a [[red giant]] star, showing their convective zones. These are the granular zones in the outer layers of the stars.]]

A '''convection zone''', '''convective zone''' or '''convective region''' of a [[star]] is a layer which is unstable due to convection. Energy is primarily or partially transported by [[convection]] in such a region. In a [[radiation zone]], energy is transported by [[radiation]] and [[conduction (heat)|conduction]].

Stellar convection consists of mass movement of plasma within the star which usually forms a circular convection current with the heated plasma ascending and the cooled plasma descending.

The [[Schwarzschild criterion]] expresses the conditions under which a region of a star is unstable to convection. A parcel of gas that rises slightly will find itself in an environment of lower pressure than the one it came from. As a result, the parcel will expand and cool. If the rising parcel cools to a lower temperature than its new surroundings, so that it has a higher density than the surrounding gas, then its lack of buoyancy will cause it to sink back to where it came from. However, if the [[temperature]] [[gradient]] is steep enough (i.e. the temperature changes rapidly with distance from the center of the star), or if the gas has a very high [[heat capacity]] (i.e. its temperature changes relatively slowly as it expands) then the rising parcel of gas will remain warmer and less dense than its new surroundings even after expanding and cooling. Its buoyancy will then cause it to continue to rise. The region of the star in which this happens is the convection zone.