If you need oxygen to fuel a fire, how does the sun continue to burn when there is no oxygen in space?

Answer 1

Strictly speaking, the sun does not burn. At least, not the way that, say, a wick on a candle does. The small fires we're all familiar with are created by a chemical reaction between fuel, such as oil or coal, and oxygen. The sun's writhing surface is the result of "a nuclear reaction that fuses hydrogen to form helium," saus Jerald Navratil, a physicist at Columbia University.
Hydrogen is the primary constituent of the sun's core. The tremendous amount of energy from fusion creates temperatures as hot as 1,000,000°C at the core. This energy is conducted slowly to the sun's surface where temperatures around 5,000°C create the brightness that lights days on Earth. The fusion reaction continues in the sun and other stars because these high temperatures cause the hydrogen nuclei to vibrate. And the more they vibrate, the more likely they are to collide, fuse, and then create additional energy to sustain the process. A star can also explode, or supernova, if it produces more energy than is required to sustain the fusion reaction.
Scientists have long labored to develop nuclear fusion as an efficient nonpolluting alternative to nuclear fission — the splitting of atomic nuclei to produce energy in today's nuclear power plants. Per reaction, fusion gives off much more energy than fission. Fusion also avoids the dangerous radioactive waste associated with fission. But scientists have yet to be able to reproduce the tremendous temperatures required for a fusion reaction

Answer 2

How many times is this asked each day? Its a nuclear fusion reaction, not something burning in oxygen.

The reaction creates a truly enormous amount of heat with very little material actually being used, so it can last for billions of years.

The sun destroys 4.2 million tonnes every second but this is so small compared to the size of the sun it won't make much difference over the life of the sun.

Answer 3

Easy answer: The Sun is not burning. The method by which the Sun generates heat and light is completely different from the combustion we are familiar with here on Earth.

The fusion of hydrogen atoms takes place within the Sun, and this reaction produces large amounts of heat and light. Some of this heat is used to sustain fusion, and some is radiated outward.

Answer 4

There are different methods too for burning to result. extremely, the sunlight does no longer burn as burning is reaction of a gas with oxygen which ends into the emission of warm temperature and mild. interior the case of sunlight, warmth and mild are produced through the approach said as nuclear fusion. in this procedure, 2 Hydrogen atoms are collided to kind a million Helium atom. The capacity produced interior the approach is carried from the middle to the outdoors of the sunlight through Photons. The capacity comes out interior the kind of warm temperature and mild. So, there is not any hearth and oxygen. it is only capacity! :-)

Answer 5

What we ordinarily call fire is an oxygen carbon fusion reaction. There are other types of reactions that can be described as fire or at least as fiery, including the type of nuclear reaction going on constantly in the sun and other stars.

Answer 6

Hey, Tham153, people's ignorance of space is worse than that (thinking the sun is on fire).

In a recent "Who wants to be a millionaire" the question was "which of these objects orbits the Earth?". The 4 choices were Moon, Sun, and a couple of planets.

The guy did not know, so he took the option to ask the audience.

43% of the audience voted for "the Sun".

(Basically, they are 500 years out of date. Sad, sad, sad)

Answer 7

The sun's energy production has nothing to do with combustion, so oxygen is not required. It is powered by the same physics as a hydrogen bomb. Nuclear fusion releases far more energy than any combustion process.

Answer 8

The sun is not a "fire" in that sense. It uses nuclear reactions deep inside itself to create the light and heat that gets to us. These reactions use hydrogen nuclei (protons) to form helium.

Answer 9

The sun does not burn or oxidize. It is an atomic fusion.

Answer 10

because it's not a fire, it's nuclear fusion.