fire cannot survive without oxygen, so what make the sun keep burning?

Answer 1

The sun is not really a ball of fire... well depends on your definition of fire, the sun and fire are both examples of plasma. Typical fire that you sit in front while camping is the result of burning in oxygen some fuel source i.e. wood. As the wood burns, combustion products are released (like carbon dioxide and water among various others) these gases which are released become super heated and start to glow, this is what you see as flames. But, any object when heated hot enough will also emit light, look at your stovetop burner, or the filament in a lightbulb.

The sun is a nuclear reaction as opposed to chemical combustion. Here energy is released by the fussion of hydrogen atoms into helium - During this process a small amount of mass is converted to energy (E=mc^2). The energy production makes the sun extremely hot, and thus it glows.

In short, you do not need oxygen to produce a lot of heat, and anytime you heat up something enough it will give off light.

Answer 2

The Sun isn't burning, not in the way a fire in your fireplace burns. The Sun's heat comes from the fusion of hydrogen atoms being pressed together with such intensity (because of the Sun's massive gravity) that they actually fuse together into helium atoms -- a different element (if you're a fan of Full Metal Alchemist, this is what "transmuting" is all about, only it's really happening right now). Fusion releases vast amounts of heat, which helps to fuse nearby hydrogen atoms, which release even more heat, which... And so the cycle continues.

Solar flares (which look like huge tongues of flames that spurt out of the surface of the Sun) aren't the same as fires on the Earth, again because there's no oxygen involved. Instead, they're huge jets of gas which have been heated to the point that they move and glow and give off heat. In that respect they're similar to the flames you see in your fireplace or a barbecue, which are also incandescent gas, but the ones on the Sun are the result of the heat of hydrogen fusion.

Answer 3

The sun contains hydrogen and helium which continuously burns. No oxygen is needed for this kind of fire.
Check out this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun

Answer 4

Chemical fires need oxidizing agents...

The sun is burning with nuclear fires.

Answer 5

the sun is not on fire, its a nuclear reaction that doesnt use oxygen.

Answer 6

we should make a space ship that runs of the type of fuel the sun uses

Answer 7

Dude!
That's not combustion, that's fusion!
tc

Answer 8

this was asked about a week ago.