The sun runs on Nuclear Fusion reactons...but how did it all begin?

Question

Fusion reactions require a huge amount of energy to be initiated, but how did the sun get this in the beginning? There has to be SOME other source giving out that huge energy...but if so, what game THAT source the energy to begin fusion reactions?

Answer 1

Hydrogen nuclear fusion is usually the compression of 2 atoms of deuterium into an atom of helium. The way most stars form is that there's a mass of dust, gas, and debris in a section of space such as a nebula.

Due to a disturbance such as an asteroid passing through the dust cloud it'll cause some of the dust to start to clump together. With gravity being a purely attractive force that's directly proportional to the mass of an object the small clump of dust will exert a slight gravitational pull on the surrounding environment.

More dust, gases, and small pieces of debris will be attracted to the small clump of matter which will increase in size over time. The larger it gets the stronger it's gravitational field will be, it'll start to attract hydrogen and deuterium which are very plentiful in space and it'll continue to get bigger. As it increases in size the gravity compresses the object more and more.

This in turn leads to it generating heat, it will start to spin as it attracts matter due to the matter striking it at different angles and matter passing by it and being pulled into its orbit.

Eventually enough heat and pressure are generated by the object that it will create a massive thermonuclear explosion and become a star. It'll have primarily hyrdogen as it's fuel source and it's core will start turning into helium as the by-product of hydrogen fusion.

Answer 2

This Huge amount of energy is caused by the crushing forces of hydrogen and helium gas getting compressed. When a supernova explodes in an area it leaves behind mass amounts of gasses that are gravitationally attracted to one another. As they "fall" into each other the gases spin faster (just like a ice skater spins faster if she pulls her arms closer to her body). When the pressure and heat from all of these gasses being compressed reach a critical level...fusion begins. Jupiter is a failed sun that never got enough gas to become warm enough or create enough pressure to form a sun.

Answer 3

Virtually all scientists will tell you that the Sun and all other stars get the energy the same place they got their mass. Compress deuterium sufficiently - the birth of the universe was quite violent - and it fuses. Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen, the most common element in the universe.

The most popular theory is that everything started with a big bang. Some notable scientists, including the late astronomer Fred Hoyle, have posited alternate scientific explanations. There isn't complete consensus among astronomers on this issue, any more than there is on "string theory".

Fundamental extremists think God said, "Let there be light". Mark Twain said "faith is believing in what you know damned well ain't so."

Answer 4

As the protosun accumulated more and more hydrogen gas from the nebula in which it first formed the density in the core rose. Compression of any gas generates heat. After millions of years of increasing core temperature, it finally reached some 10-million degrees Kelvin. At that temperature and with the immense density in the core, nuclear fusion started and the sun was born.

Answer 5

Gravity provided the energy that started fusion.

Answer 6

The collapse of matter into denser mass begat the incline that lead to that reactor.