Polar-angle averaged actual temperature gradient ∇_act(r) compared to the polar-angle averaged adiabatic gradient ∇_ad(ρ(r),T(r)) (see Eq. (7)) for the 5 M_⊙ (top), 10 M_⊙ (middle), and 20 M_⊙ (bottom) initial cloud core masses. The indication for convective instability is not as prominent as in the 1 M_⊙ case (see Fig. 9). The vertical grey dashed line indicates the radius of the second core. The plots are shown at 128 years, 91.4 years, and 86.4 years after the second core formation, for the 5 M_⊙, 10 M_⊙, and 20 M_⊙ cases, respectively.