How does the sun continue to burn when there is no oxygen in space????

Answer 1

It doesn't burn in the oxidation sense, it is powered by nuclear energy, fusion to be precise.

The sun is a type of nuclear reactor.

Answer 2

The sun does not burn in the combustion sense. The sun is huge, at least a hundred times the diameter of earth. The weight of all the material in the sun is so great that at the center, it is able to force atomic nuclei together so that they fuse into heavier elements. This produces a huge amount of energy, in the form of light and heat, millions of times more than simple combustion. Typically this is the fusion of hydrogen in order to produce helium, but other elements may be involved as well.

So, basically the sun is a huge nuclear fusion reactor, something we have yet to duplicate on earth, except for very brief moments in hydrogen bombs. If we could build a reliable source of nuclear fusion, the human race would have an almost limitless source of nonpolluting energy. Because of the difficulty in recreating the conditions at the center of the sun, nuclear fusion power is not likely in the near future.

Answer 3

The sun does not burn because of combustion - it does not need oxygen. Rather, it is like a huge nuclear bomb continuously going off... though that is kinda inaccurate too.

What is really happening is the sun converts Hydrogen into helium through fusion, releasing heat (photons) in the process. It looks kinda like fire because hydrogen and helium are gases, and it is in a sort of liquid state - a plasma to be exact.

Liquids and superheated gasses turn into spheres in space. The sun is a really huge sphere of superheated gas that has crossed over into the phase of plasma. The plasma is a combination of many gasses, but primarily the sun is hydrogen and helium.

Answer 4

Elegantly put question with an equally elegant answer: the sun is not "burning" in the sense of rapid oxidation, like burning coal, or oil, or natural gas.

Rather, it is burning in the sense of nuclear fusion. Hydrogen atom are stripped of their electrons, and then the nuclei, which just happen to be a single proton, are forced close enough together to form the nuclei of helium. This process, called fusion, generate a small amount of energy; i.e., it takes energy to squeeze the protons together, but in the process slightly more energy is released than is used. Because the sun has so much hydrogen, and its gravity is so strong, an enormous amount of energy is actually created.

HTH

Charles

Answer 5

It doesn't use oxygen to burn, it uses a process called fusion. Fusion is when light, nuclear elements fuse together to make heavier elements. Hydrogen fuses into helium. It doesn't need oxygen. By the way, when the sun runs out of hydrogen, and it will in a few billion years, then we will all die because all stars eventually burn out.

Answer 6

Has nothing to do with Oxygen in the sun or in space. Hydrogen fusion reactions power the sun.

Answer 7

Because the sun is not burning in the way you think. The Sun is so hot that it surpasses the state of gas and into the realm of becoming a plasmic state. There is no chemical reaction to produce fire, because nuclear fusion produces so much energy that particles are traveling so fast the photons that are emitted from the Sun are releasing all wavelengths of radiation from radio to gamma.

Answer 8

The reason is that in the sun nuclear fusion takes place which is the cause for the liberation of enormous energy.

Answer 9

Because the sun fuses Helium and Hydrogen together which makes it hot

Answer 10

who said u sun is burning
it is not the fire which we are used to of
rather these are nuclear rections , viz, nuclear fusion and nuclear fission , responsible for release of such enormous amount of energy
hydrogen is converted into helium and vice versa which releases such high energy which we can feel even upto saturn
THERE IS NO OXYGEN REQUIRED WHATSOEVER FOR THESE REACTIONS
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