The main mechanism for producing energy in the sun is nuclear _________?

Answer 1

Nuclear fusion is the answer. It involves hydrogen atoms smashing together and becoming helium, while releasing energy.

Answer 2

The Sun and all smaller stars get their energy primarily from a process of nuclear fusion called the proton-proton chain. Massive stars use much more enegergetic hydrogen fusion reactions to generate their incredibly vast outpourings of energy, but the Sun and all smaller stars are powered in this way, It's a three step process that begins when two pairs of hydrogen nuclei merge to form deuterons, or nuclei of heavy hydrogen. These particles are made of a proton and a neutron. A deuteron fuses with a proton to form a nucleus of Helium-3, or light helium. Then two nuclei of light helium fuse together to form a nucleus of normal helium and expel two protons. Along the way, gamma rays, positrons or anti-electrons and intense heat are liberated. The positrons annihilate themselves when they meet an electron, liberating more gamma rays. Four hydrogen nuclei are .7 percent heavier than a nucleus of normal helium. This difference is converted into very energetic gamma radiation and heat. The Sun fuses 654 million tons of hydrogen into helium each second, with 4 million tons being converted into pure energy. This energy bounces around inside the sun for hundreds of thousands of years untilt it reaches the outer layers where it heats parcels of gas. As it works it's way outwards, it's absorbed and re-emitted countless times, becomming less and less engergetic as it goes. In this way, lethal gamma rays become life giving sunlight and heat. They rise to the surface in a matter of days, where upon reaching it they emit the visible light, heat and UV radiation which then reaches Earth in 8.3 minutes. The Sun is essentially a huge fusion reactor that if it could use all of the hydrogen it was born with for fuel would shine at it's current rate for 100 billlion years. However, when the core's hydrogen is exhausted some 5 billion years in the future, the Sun will begin to die and the Solar system along with it.

Answer 3

Fusion