Is Our Sun Fusing Hydrogen And Helium At The Same Time?

Question

1. What Is The mechanism Bywhich the fused Mass Is seperated Out And Fresh Hydrogen And Helium Flows To The Centre
2. It suppossedly fuses 4000 million tons of Hydrogen Per sec
3. Does The energy Output Of The Sun Correspond To the Mass Used Up, If at all

Answer 1

The fusion of helium requires much higher temperatures than are present in the Sun. It is believed that helium is collecting at the center of the sun and eventually the core will be all helium, resulting in a shell of hydrogen fusion surrounding a helium core. Eventually, contraction of the helium core under the force of gravity heats it up enough to ignite helium fusion, at which time the sun will become a red giant star.
Even though the Sun looses over 4,000 million tons of mass every second, compared to the total mass of the sun, which is about 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 million tons, that isn't much. Even loosing 4,000 million tons per second for 10,000 million years only results in the Sun loosing 0.00006% of its mass! Hard to believe? Do the arithmetic yourself!
4,000 million tons per second times 3,600 seconds per hour times 24 hours per day times 365 days per year times 10,000 million years is "only" 1,260,000,000,000,000 million tons.
1,260,000,000,000,000 million tons divided by 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 million tons is only 0.00006%.

Answer 2

1&2) The Sun fuses approximately 600 million tons of Hydrigen into helium every second. (Source: Lots of books, but I remember that line from the Lives of Stars episode of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series.)
3) Remember the equation E=mc^2
In a fusion [and fission also] process, that equation states the ratio by which matter is converted into energy. When two hydrogen nuclei are fused together, the resulting helium has less mass than the total of the two hydrogen that were fused. Where did the mass go? It was converted into energy. At what rate? c squared. No this DOES NOT violate the law of conservation of energy. Nothing was created, it was transformed. So, take the amount of mass being fused and use the equation to figure out the resulting energy output every sec. It is a LOT!! So much that you can feel the power of the fusionj reactions occurring some 93 million miles away on your upturned face when you look up into the sun.

Answer 3

The sun is fusing hydrogen and helium at the same time, but the helium reaction is taking place at a much slower pace, so the predominant mechanism is the hydrogen cycle.

The mass does not need to be sorted. All that is needed is for the nuclei to exist in large enough amounts to actually react by istelf in a chain reaction. the 4 billion (or 4000 million, depending on your system) tons is still small as compared to the sun's mass, so the gases in the Sun's core will still be enough to sustain the reaction, and fresh hydrogen and helium does not need to be circulated in.

The mass used up coes correspond to the amount of enegy produced. However, the earth only receives 0.001% of the energy received.

Answer 4

1. There is a continuous churning of the hydrogen in the Sun. Hydrogen is FUSED and helium is PRODUCED. The Sun is 85% hydrogen and 15% helium. It will "burn out" when it approaches 100% helium.

2. Possibly 4000 million tons of hydrogen per second, I've never seen that figure before.

3. The energy outpout coresponds to the reduction in potential of the mass as helium is produced.

Answer 5

All the energy created from fusion should escape to keep the sun at equilibrium. Therefore the sun will be shrinking at the rate of hydrogen burned - helium produced.

Answer 6

NO sun is fusing HYDROGEN to produce HELIUM
1)fused mass is seperated from what?..
2)no..matter-energy conversion rate is 4.26 million tonnes per second(fusion of hydrogen to produse helium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_the_Sun
3)yes my einsteins mass energy equivalence E=MC^2

Answer 7

same as number 2

Answer 8

It fuses H into He.

Answer 9

I believe so... although I'm sure someone else here is more qualified to answer this question.