Will the sun ever burn out?

Question

I know about the gases and the sun being a big ball of fire.But what I don't understand is everything that is on fire burns out due to nothing left to burn.shouldn't the sun burn until there is no planet left to burn?

Answer 1

yes, it will burn out in about 65 million years. And actually, it is not on fire, it is a huge reaction, similar to many, many nuclear bombs exploding at once, which is where all the energy comes from. Once it gets very old, it will begin to collapse and probably go supernova, which is a fancy word for explode! lol

Answer 2

Technically the sun is a ball of plasma, not fire. It's also not "burning" fuel exactly, it's using the process of nuclear fusion to create energy. It's gravity is basically crushing Hydrogen nuclei into Helium, though other elements are present, a process that releases massive amounts of energy. To give an example, each second 4 million tons of matter is converted into energy.

Towards the end of the Sun's life (about 5 billion years from now) it will become a red giant. During this phase of the Sun's life cycle, thermal pulses will cause it to throw off it's outer layers. Once this happens the Sun will be a much smaller white dwarf and will spend a few billion years cooling down.

Answer 3

The sun is not "burning". It is undergoing nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms in its core, and once the hydrogen atoms are gone, then it will start fusing helium atoms together to form carbon/nitrogen/oxygen etc. This is the period when the sun will swell, since more energy is released with the fusion of heavier nuclei; during this period, many planets near the sun will be consumed by it. There is a limit on how heavy the nuclei can be for the sun to fuse; once this point has been reached, the nuclear fusion reaction will stop. Once the nuclear fusion reaction stops, then the heat source from the sun stops, and it will start to collapse under its own gravity until it forms a white or black dwarf star.

Edit: After reading much of the material posted by other ppl, i would just like to say that the sun wil NOT become a supernova. It does not have the mass a star requires to undergo heavy metallic fusion reactions, which is a prerequisite for supernovas since supernovas need enough energy to be produced in the core of stars(supernovas are caused by the ejection of star material when too much energy is formed at its core).

Answer 4

Yeah, the sun'll burn out eventually. But humans are due to become extinct in something like 20 million years (which isn't that long on the geologic time scale) so we really don't have to worry about it because the sun'll last for another few billion years. It'll turn into a Red Giant and consume Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and probably some of the asteroid belt. The geology of the Gas Giants (Jupiter - Neptune) will be severely altered then. Then it'll explode and maybe form a black hole, in which case the rest of the asteroids and planets are toast.

Answer 5

As it seems in this universe, everything with a beginning has to have an end eventually and the sun is no exception to the rule. It will grow to a red giant in a couple billion years then shrink down to a white dwarf a couple million years after that. But you dont have to worry about that since our generation would be long dead before then and there might not even be humans on earth anymore.

Answer 6

First of all, the sun is a star - not a planet. Secondly, it emits radiation, light, heat, etc., as the result of a process of atomic fusion. That means that all of the hydrogen will accumulate more and more neutrons, etc. and congeal into heavier and heavier elements. Eventually, it will reach a stage where fusion can no longer carry on. At that point the sun will expand into a red giant and eventually shrivel up into a cold dark cinder in about 5 billion years from now.

Answer 7

Yes and it is estimated to burn out after 5 billion years

Answer 8

The sun will run out of hydrogen in about 5 billion years.

Answer 9

The gravity of the sun will pull the earth into it, and the earth will burn up, before the sun burns out. And the sun will eventually burn out.

Answer 10

Yes it may but the sun is but a star and when it burns out another can take it's place.

Answer 11

Yes