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4 answers

You have it a little backwards.
All stars (including our sun) fuse hydrogen into helium - that nuclear fusion is what generates the heat and light we see.
No stars are on fire in the normal sense of fire like in a campfire - fire is a chemical reaction only. The stars all use nuclear reactions to generate heat and light.

Once a star has used up most of its hydrogen, it starts fusing the helium "ash" in its core into heavier elements in stages all the way up to iron. At that point, the star can't get anymore energy because fusing iron actually uses energy, it doesn't create any.

2007-07-08 14:53:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3 0

The surface of the sun is not on fire. Intense gravitational forces in the core of the sun fuse hydrogen atoms and form helium and in the process and also generates intense heat that makes it's way to the surface of the sun over a long period of time before it erupts from the surface and radiates the heat and light that make life on Earth possible.

This means that it generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium and is in a state of hydrostatic balance, neither contracting nor expanding over time.

2007-07-09 19:34:03 · answer #2 · answered by ericbryce2 7 · 0 0

It depends on the age and the size of the star and on its color.

Most stars do fuse hydrogen into helium during the normal part of their lifespan, which is known as the "Main Sequence." Other stars burn other things. As a star ages, if it is large enough, it will become a supergiant and fuse helium in its core to make carbon, oxygen, neon, magnesium, sodium, and silicon all the way to iron. Iron is the most stable, it takes energy to go up from iron, so when there is nothing left to burn a star will go supernova.

2007-07-08 14:27:40 · answer #3 · answered by TychaBrahe 7 · 2 0

fire on the sun is due to nuclear explosions the same as all the other stars.

2007-07-08 14:39:59 · answer #4 · answered by pilot 5 · 0 2

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