Evolutionist. You claim teh earth is old, and the sun is older than the earth...?

Question

If the sun get smaller every time, because the more it burns, the smaller it gets. How big could have been the sun billions of years ago? How could there be a "ice age" with such a hot sun? Please don't you assumption in your response. Because assumption is the big mistake in science. We can not "assume" things.

Answer 1

Who on earth told you that the sun gets smaller as it burns? That is a fallacy. Because that is not true, the rest of your question is irrelevant.

As with all stars, as the sun ages, it gets hotter, so it was cooler many billions of years ago when we had massive ice ages. The ice ages are thought to be caused by changes in our orbit (probably due to asteroids hitting the earth), shifts in the tectonic plates, changes in the content of our atmosphere, and variations in the sun's output as it ages.

There is no assumption in science. There is further study and changes in hypotheses as they are tested. Unlike your religion, science changes all the time as we learn more and test more.

Answer 2

OK, let me tell you something. You got it all wrong. Where do I begin?
First of all, the sun does not burn. It fuses hydrogen nuclei together to make helium nuclei, which releases way more energy than our combustion. If it burned like ordinary combustion, it would have gone out a long time ago.
Second, even if it did burn, it would not get smaller. Think about this: the sun is a big ball of gas. It is so big, its gravity keeps the gas together (that's what prevents it from blowing up like castle bravo). So, for it to get smaller, all that "burning" gas would have to go somewhere. But where can it go, with the gravity there to hold it all together? So there you go. The sun, under either occasion, could not get smaller.
Third, a bigger sun doesn't necessarily mean a hotter sun. It is indeed predicted that our sun, once the nuclear fusion runs out, will "inflate" itself into what is known as a red giant, and absorb Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth in the process (lucky martians!). And since the nuclear fusion would have run out in that case, it would eventually get cooler and cooler. So there you have it again. We would probably face a sort of ice age should we survive after that, even though we would have a sun of unimaginable size. And, just making it clear: An ice age happens because of atmospheric changes in Earth, not the Sun. The Ice Age would not have happened if Earth's atmosphere would have captured enough light from the Sun, regardless of its size.

Answer 3

The sun has been getting hotter: that its brightness, in fact, is 30 percent greater now than when the Earth was formed.

The reason for this is that as it is burning hydrogen to helium in the core the amount of hydrogen there gradually decreases. In order to keep the energy generation rate the same, the temperature and density in the core must rise. This has the effect that the energy can flow to the surface a little faster and it puffs up the outer layers (as well slightly brightening the Sun).

When the Sun runs out of hydrogen in its core completely (which won't be for another 5 billion years or so) nuclear reactions will stop there, but they will continue in a shell around the core. The core will contract (since it is not generating energy) and as it contracts it will heat up. Eventually it will get hot enough to start burning helium into carbon (a different nuclear reaction). While the core is contracting the hydrogen burning around it heats will heat up the outer layers which will expand, and while they do that they will cool. The Sun will then become what is called a Red Giant and its radius will be large enough to envelop the Earth!

Eventually the Sun will also run out of helium in its core. When this happens the core will contract again, but it will never be able to get hot enough to start burning any other elements into anything else. There will still be nuclear reactions of helium and hydrogen in shells around the core though, and these will continue to heat up the outer layers and cause them to move outwards. The core will eventually turn into what we call a white dwarf star, which is an extremely small (roughly Earth sized) dense star. A white dwarf does not generate energy so it will just slowly cool as it shines. The outer layers of the Sun will turn into what we call a "planetary nebula" (although it has nothing to do with planets) and gradually drift out into the interstellar medium. Planetary nebulae are some of the most beautiful objects you can see in the night sky.

Answer 4

At the sun's core there is a fusion reaction of hydrogen to essentially fix this problem so the sun does not continue to get smaller. The reaction produces massive amounts of energy by smashing together hydrogen in a proton-proton chain to produce helium, which is why the sun maintains a relatively stable state over time.

Because the rate of fusion depends on the density of the core, the core will maintain an equilbrium. More fusion will cause the core to heat up and expand, not shrink. By pushing out against the outer layers of the sun, this will cause the core to cool and shrink, which will cause the rate of fusion to start speeding up again. The process will repeat almost indefinitely.

It is true that eventually the core will fail from lack of fusionable material, but this will not happen for several billion years.

I hope this clears up your misunderstanding.

Cheers

Answer 5

The sun is not changing its size in a noticeable manner, although it has gotten slightly smaller and hotter over time. The earth and sun have been around for over four billion years; the ice ages (whose cause is still not determined) are of much more recent date -- there are several that have occurred over the last hundred thousand years or so. Evolution is now a proven fact; proof details available on request.
Postscript: Some responders note that the sun expands. It isn't doing so now, but will do so when the hydrogen in the core is depleted, some five billion years hence, and starts burning helium instead. See reference.

Answer 6

Wow, how can someone be so uneducated about astronomy that they don't understand how the sun ages and how ice ages work.

I'm actually disgusted at your lack of education.

An Ice Age has NOTHING to do with the size of the sun.

Do you really not understand that the earths atmosphere changes? Do you understand why we're having a global warming right now? Do you understand that the position of the continents change with time because the earth has plates that move? Do you understand that the earths orbit changes over time, ever so subtly? Or how about Vulcanism? Variations in the suns energy output (yes, its measurable)?

Please go back to school. I'm begging you. This is the weakest argument I've ever seen for a gods existance. Wow, I'm actually embarassed for you. Your high school teachers would be horrified and disgusted with you.

Answer 7

1) The Sun gets BIGGER the more it burns, when it moves on from one fuel to the next it changes size dramatically, we wouldn't survive it.

2) Ice ages happen due to atmosphere thickening preventing the amounts of light and heat from the Sun reaching us that keep us at this tempurature.

These aren't "assumed" things, they are carefully studied. Do you think that scientists just sit around, come up with an idea, publish it and don't give any more thought to proving it?

Answer 8

News flash: The sun is not made of burning coal. It burns hydrogen and helium in a nuclear FUSION process. This process makes the sun actually get BIGGER as it ages. Eventually it will expand to encompass the earth's orbit.

When you ask rhetorical questions, you should ALWAYS know the answer beforehand. Otherwise, you only make yourself look foolish. Don't give them any more ammunition than you absolutely have to.

Answer 9

It is best for you to have some basic understanding of science prior to making false statements.

As another yahoo poster might say
Your Kung-fu is weak

edit:
You stated >>Please don't you assumption in your response. Because assumption is the big mistake in science. We can not "assume" things.<<

How about this practice what you preach.

Again learn something about science before making silly statements

Answer 10

The sun is getting smaller? Did you heard that from great "scientist" like kirk cameron and ray comfort.