If the sun burns 600 million tons of hydrogen every second, how much hydrogen is that in a year?
If the sun can last another estimated 4-6 billion more years, how much hydrogen is that (6 billion years worth)?
Where in the world is all that hydrogen? Inside the sun? Inside the fire? Why doesn’t it all burn away?
Do scientist really know these answers, or are they just really arrogant?
It’s not fire. That’s a chemical reaction. The sun is powered by fusion which is a nuclear reaction. Yes, the sun contains enough hydrogen to sustain itself. Consider the volume of the sun and the mass of plasma contained therein.
The mass of the sun is about 2.192x10^27 tons. At the rate of 6.0x10^8 (600 million) tons per second, and assuming all of the sun’s mass is hydrogen to start with, it would theoretically take about 1.16x10^11 (116 billion) years to convert it all into helium. More realistically, however, only a small fraction of the sun’s total mass is under conditions that allow fusion to occur.
What they aren’t telling you is that it runs out on December 21st, 2012. Just like in the Mayan Calendar.
Scientists don’t want to tell you because they work for the man.
IIRC, only the gas near the core of the star reaches the proper temperatures and pressures to fuse. As a star ages, the gas at its core is converted from hydrogen into helium, then from helium into heavier elements like carbon, oxygen, silicon, (not sure of the specific order) until it either burns out or it develops an iron core and collapses. This collapse can either explode in a supernova or fall into a singularity, forming a black hole.
LOTS of info on stars on Wikipedia.
You go, limitgov. Expose those arrogant, so-called ‘scientists’, and their so-called laws of physics.
Somebody has to stop this! This is absolutely unsustainable! This hydrogen is not renewable! Think of the children! The Sun must be regulated!
Tax the brightest 1%!
Peak Sun
Don’t worry, the sun’s increasing energy output is expected to render Earth uninhabitable in only a billion years.
“It’s not fire. That’s a chemical reaction. The sun is powered by fusion which is a nuclear reaction. Yes, the sun contains enough hydrogen to sustain itself. Consider the volume of the sun and the mass of plasma contained therein.”
I see. So, the sun is basically a huge ball of hydrogen? A giant ball, with enough hydrogen to last billions of years?
Wouldn’t the heat from the fusion, light the hydrogen on fire?
Don’t you people watch Doctor Who? Jeez I am glad that I am a time traveler and have seen the implosion of the sun. It happens on a Friday btw. The sun decided to take a early weekend.
“Wouldn’t the heat from the fusion, light the hydrogen on fire?”
To my knowledge it essentially is a giant ball of fire, hence the heat. Then again, I’m not keen on the natural sciences. So perhaps I have given the wrong image.
“to my knowledge it essentially is a giant ball of fire”
or is it a giant ball of hyrdogen? something has to fuel the fire.
No, not at all. Fire is an oxidation reaction. Where’s the oxygen in a huge ball of hydrogen?
“No, not at all. Fire is an oxidation reaction. Where’s the oxygen in a huge ball of hydrogen?”
Hmmm. So, there can be zero fire without oxygen?
If fire requires oxygen by definition, then it follows that fire is impossible without oxygen.
That’s a big “if”, as other oxidizers are possible.
I think it’s time the Sun paid its fair share.
“That’s a big “if”, as other oxidizers are possible.”
So, fire is possible without oxygen?
