If there is no air in space, how does the sun burn?

Question

Ok, so I've asked this question to just about every teacher I've ever had, and they all give me the same answer: The sun doesn't so much "burn," but rather "explodes" contintuously. As far as I understand, these are hydrogen explosions. This all sounds logical to me and, having a basic understanding of science, it makes sense. But it still bothers me! If there are any serious scientists out there, please put my mind at ease!

Answer 1

umm the sun doesnt technically burn... and the sun is manly hydrogen and helium..

Answer 2

Technically the sun is not "burning" the Sun is Our Solar System's largest FUSION REACTOR. Every second 554 million Tons of Hydrogen is converted into 550 million Tons of Helium every second. The remmaining 4 million tons is for Sunspots. The process of Fusion in Our Sun also known as the PROTON-PROTON CYCLE is ephemeral however meaning it will not last forever. Oxygen does not appear in great abundance in a star unless it is in route to becoming a Red Giant which is the usual fate of Stars like Our Sun which according to the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram of Star Classification is a MAIN SEQUENCE Star which out of all the other star groups are the most stable and in other words would be considered average in comparison to other stars some 100s even 1000s of times brighter than Our Sun. Main Sequence Stars have very long lifespans in the Billions of years. Our Sun is roughly Middle-Aged compared to other stars. The only other time that large amounts of Oxygen would appear in a Star is when that star is going SUPERNOVA. So the presence of large amounts of Oxygen in Our Sun would be a very bad idea. Basically it is the Fusion process that keeps the Sun going and life going ultimately on earth I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Your teachers are right. They're just putting it into a simplified form for you to understand. 'Burning' means reacting with oxygen, so when Hydrogen burns it reacts with oxygen to make water. But in the sun nothing 'burns', so oxygen isn't required. The heat and light that the sun emits is energy released in nuclear fusion reactions. This is two nuclei of hydrogen fusing together to make a Helium nucleus, releasing heat and light in the process.

Look up 'Nuclear Fusion' for more info, and see the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion

Answer 4

The sun is a fusion reaction, not a burning, or expoding (both are combustion reactions, one is faster than the other is all). Two hydrogen atoms fuse to create a single helium atom, plus energy. Since the sun is mostly hydrogen, there's plenty of hydrogen pairs just waiting to fuse, and no need for any exterior "air".

Answer 5

The Sun doesn't burn, nuclear fusion reactions in its core fuse hydrogen into helium which releases vast amounts of energy.

A nuclear fusion reaction does not require air and produces light and heat.

Answer 6

your teachers are lying. the sun doesn't burn, but it also isn't "exploding" because even exploding requires burning. the sun has a lot of hydrogen molecules that are all fusing together to form helium nucleii. this is the process of nuclear fusion, and it requires no oxygen, but it does give off an incredible amount of energy.

Answer 7

well buddy,space is vaccum,i accept but every particlehas its own atmosphere filled with gasses like how earth has,.the same way sun also is filled with gases which fuel the reaction tomake it burn.well the question is whether there is oxygen in the suns atmosphere? yes defnitely there is .other wise it wouldnt burn all these centuries.since the formation of the universe .the universe is expanding ,stars move .sun is also a star .it moves.but the thing is you will not be alive to record its movement.

Answer 8

The sun burns, it does not "combust"; combustion is the kind of burning you are familiar with on your planet, and it consists mainly of rapid oxidation.

In contrast, the sun is generating energy through a nuclear fusion reaction. Here is a link that explains what is going on:

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/Light/fusion.html

You should fire all of your teachers for failing to explain this to you properly!

Answer 9

Plainly put, the Sun and all the stars are nothing but nuclear explosions held together by gravity. I don't think air is needed for that to occur.

Answer 10

first of all let me say i see everyone who offered opinion is basing it from scientific point of views i may not know all the scientific terms to explain the breath of life let me start off by saying within the breath of life there is different forms of gases/energy but on a whole it still forms under one umbrella which is life/alive the sun is alive as much as the earth is alive/people and everything that is alive has some form of gas/energy within every energy there is intelligence/knowledge with that been said there is some form of air behind the sun air is the only element that is consist of the intelligence of life with that been said the sun has to breath to stay alive it might not be within the same frequency as humans but it is alive and we all know that and to be alive you have to live/exist to be alive

Answer 11

what it really is is a process of fusion occuring naturally under high pressure. when hidrogen molecules combine nuclei they gove of an extrodinary amount of NRG. the explosions your teachers are refering to would be caused by a thing called anti matter. anti matter is what occurs when the charged particles of an atom (the protons and electrons) switch charges. and when anti matter touches regular matter the result can be quite explosive. causing giant explosions called solar flairs which can reach out into space in loops over three times the size of the earth throwing tons of radiation into space which can interupt radio signals and cause other electronical malfunctions.