Any astronomers out there?

Question

I do not understand much about the Sun. Please tell me more if you know.
a) What is the surface of the Sun look like if there are no fire on it.
b) Why is it burning.
c) Where does it get it energy from to burn all the time.
d) When will the burning end.
e) How does the Sun work.

Please explain if you are an astronomer.

Answer 1

a) like a volcanic planet. rock has hardened no more melting
b) Coalition and internal eruptions
c) gases and chemicals
d) It will end but is not predictable
e) in mysterious ways

Answer 2

"...a) What is the surface of the Sun look like if there are no fire on it..."
The sun doesn't have any solid surface. Instead the sun is an immense ball of what's called plasma (that's a special kind of substance that's neither a solid nor a gas) The region of the sun that we see is called the photosphere. It's heated and caused to glow by heat from below it.

"...b) Why is it burning..."
See answer above

"...c) Where does it get it energy from to burn all the time..."
The entire sun "burns" because of nuclear fusion. That's the same process that happens in a hydrogen bomb (the sun is an immense hydrogen bomb that's been exploding for about 4.5-billion years)

"...d) When will the burning end..."
The nuclear fusion ("burning") of the sun will end in about 4.5-billion years.

"...e) How does the Sun work..."
All of the light and heat of the sun comes from its central core where the nuclear fusion process takes place. In the core, which is about 250,000 miles in diameter, the element hydrogen is changed into the element helium. About 600-million metric tons are changed this way every second. This is the nuclear fusion process mentioned above. The core temperature is 27-million degrees Fahrenheit.

Answer 3

well, the sun does not really burn. it is not fire. it is electrically charged gasses confined in magnetic fields. that is why solar prominences look like arches.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060416.html

what the sun does do instead of burn is fuse hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei at its core. the core is slowly changing composition. the sun is so massive that the weight of all the material above the core compresses and heats the hydrogen so much that four hydrogen nuclei can be put together into one helium nucleus plus a little energy.

all stars change as they age, but how a star changes depends on its mass. stars the same mass as the sun shine for about ten billion years, and the sun has about 5.4 billion years to go before there is no more hydrogen in its core. at that time, the core will start to contract and heat, but the outer layers will begin to expand and cool. the sun will get very large and very red. when the core gets hot and dense enough to begin fusing helium, the sun will exhibit what is called the helium flash. the core will eventually run out of helium nuclei to fuse, and begin to contract again, but the core will never get hot enough to fuse the product of helium fusion so the core will only stop contracting when electrons in the core can not be forced any closer, and the outer layers will escape from the sun. the core will become a remnant about the size of earth and will just keep cooling because it will not be producing any energy.

the sun produces energy in its core. this energy is transmitted by high energy electromagnetic radiation in a generally outward direction. atoms in the sun will absorb this radiation and then re-emit it many times along the way. when the radiation is re-emitted, its energy will generally be split into a few lower energy photons. when this energy gets to the outer layers, it begins to transmit thru the sun by convection as hot gasses rise to the surface, cool, then sink again, and heat.

read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun