How is the Sun Fire in space?

Originally Answered: How is the Sun burning in a vacuum space? The “Burning” in the sun is a nuclear process called nuclear fusion where hydrogen atoms are merging to form helium in this process energy (light and other form of radiation) is being released.

What keeps fueling the Sun?

The sun gets so hot from its nuclear fusion that it glows and emits light, just like how a piece of metal glows red if you heat it up. There are two main forces at work in nuclear fusion: the electromagnetic force and the strong nuclear force.

What keeps the Sun from exploding?

The inward pressure that keeps a star from exploding is the gravitational attraction of the gas mantle surrounding the core (which is most of the volume of the Sun, and is very hot but does not burn itself).

How does the Sun keep energy?

The sun generates energy in its core in a process called nuclear fusion. During nuclear fusion, the sun’s extremely high pressure and hot temperature cause hydrogen atoms to come apart and their nuclei (the central cores of the atoms) to fuse or combine.

What type of fusion occurs in the sun?

nuclear fusion
In the core of the Sun hydrogen is being converted into helium. This is called nuclear fusion. It takes four hydrogen atoms to fuse into each helium atom. During the process some of the mass is converted into energy.

What keeps the Sun spinning?

Nothing keeps the sun spinning. The sun spins under its own inertia and does not need any help to keep it going. Isaac Newton observed that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. This is called the Law of Inertia.

What is the process by which the Sun produces energy?

Solar energy is created by nuclear fusion that takes place in the sun. Fusion occurs when protons of hydrogen atoms violently collide in the sun’s core and fuse to create a helium atom. This process, known as a PP (proton-proton) chain reaction, emits an enormous amount of energy.

How does the Sun get hydrogen?

Through most of the Sun’s life, energy has been produced by nuclear fusion in the core region through a series of nuclear reactions called the p–p (proton–proton) chain; this process converts hydrogen into helium.

What is keeping the Sun from falling?

Like all planets and stars the sun is positioned in its place due to the curvature it does to the fabric of space time which makes it rotate around the center of the Milky Way, same as earth rotates around the sun, and since the earth momentum keeps it rotating without falling to the sun, the same happens with the sun.

Why does the sun burn?

Answer: The Sun does not “burn”, like we think of logs in a fire or paper burning. The Sun glows because it is a very big ball of gas, and a process called nuclear fusion is taking place in its core. Nuclear fusion occurs when one proton smashes into another proton so hard that they stick together…and release some energy as well.

Why doesn’t the sun burn all at once like a candle?

So, the sun doesn’t “burn” all at once for the same reason a candle doesn’t: It relies on convective processes to freshen its fuel supply. This question originally appeared on Quora – the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

How does the Sun get its heat?

This heating eventually grows out from the center (or core) of the star to the outside, finally leaving the surface and radiating out into space to be the heat and light we know stars emit. People, including scientists, sometimes say that the Sun “burns hydrogen” to make it glow.

What would happen if the Sun stopped heating up?

Many spacecraft constantly observe the Sun, helping us keep an eye on space weather that can affect satellites and astronauts. Without the Sun’s intense energy, there would be no life on Earth. The Sun’s core is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius).