>>11954807Stars are stars because there is enough gravity to smoosh atoms together beyond the electron rebound limit.
That's why they're plasma. Not enough room for electrons to orbit freely, so they get shot out of the sun. Its just naked nuclei rubbing together.
If you crush them together any farther there is no room for protons, and they turn into a ball of neutrons. This is a neutron star.
If you crush them even farther together neutrons couldn't fit and it just turns into a ball of quark matter, quarks and gluons. This is the theoretical quark star.
When these stars finally blow out, all those naked nuclei pick up free electrons and it condenses from warm plasma to the other states of matter.
In the case of neutron stars, once the pressure is removed some of the neutrons change into protons, and you get the heavy elements.
