Is it true the sun is constantly growing?

Question

I heard the sun is like constantly growing cos reaction to give out heat means looses gravitational pull.. and so eventaully (in a few million/billion years) will die out and may even consume earth.. is this true?? if yes and u know a link pleas include it

Answer 1

White dwarfs are thought to be the final evolutionary state of all stars whose mass is not too high—over 97% of the stars in our Galaxy.[5], §1. After the hydrogen-fusing lifetime of a main-sequence star of low or medium mass ends, it will expand to a red giant which fuses helium to carbon and oxygen in its core by the triple-alpha process. If a red giant has insufficient mass to generate the core temperatures required to fuse carbon, an inert mass of carbon and oxygen will build up at its center. After shedding its outer layers to form a planetary nebula, it will leave behind this core, which forms the remnant white dwarf.[6] Usually, therefore, white dwarfs are composed of carbon and oxygen. It is also possible that core temperatures suffice to fuse carbon but not neon, in which case an oxygen-neon-magnesium white dwarf may be formed.[7] Also, some helium[8][9] white dwarfs appear to have been formed by mass loss in binary systems.

The material in a white dwarf no longer undergoes fusion reactions, so the star has no source of energy, nor is it supported against gravitational collapse by the heat generated by fusion. It is supported only by electron degeneracy pressure, which enables it to be extremely dense. The physics of degeneracy yields a maximum mass for a nonrotating white dwarf, the Chandrasekhar limit—approximately 1.4 solar masses—beyond which it cannot be supported by degeneracy pressure. A carbon-oxygen white dwarf that approaches this mass limit, typically by mass transfer from a companion star, may explode as a Type Ia supernova via a process known as carbon detonation.[6][1]

Answer 2

The reactions inside the sun that are burning the gases it is made up of are most likely making it lose its gravitational pull, but at such a small rate that even with technology advanced enough to measure the diameter or radius of the Sun the fluctuations in the readings would be negligible except over a time period of tens of thousands of years. The theory about the Sun eventually expanding enough to burn whatever husk of a planet is left of Earth agrees with the fact that 90% of stars expand after several billion years into red giants. If the theory is true then by the time the Sun expands enough to come close to Earth no life will be around on Earth due to the extremely high daylight temperatures.

Answer 3

The sun is currently in what's called its 'main sequence' stage. That means it is stable, both in energy output and size. However, the sun's energy output and size do pulsate very slightly over long periods of time, but hardly to any extent worth thinking about.

The sun will remain in its stable stage for at least another 4-billion years and then as the fusion process in its core changes it will gradually grow into what's called a 'red giant' star. It will then be so large that it will totally consume the planets Mercury and Venus, and totally wipe out all life on Earth.

Someone else told you that "all" stars end up by exploding, but that's not true. Our sun will never explode because it doesn't have enough mass. After its 'red giant' stage is over it will shrink into a 'white dwarf' star with a diameter about the same as Earth.

Answer 4

We don't measure the sun on a regular basis. But.... from observing far off stars that are in the same category as the sun is, astronomers have concluded that the sun will grow into a red giant before 'throwing off' itsouter layers and leaving behind a small white dwarf star. Yes, it may consume the Earth while it is growing into a red giant.

here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Life_cycle

Answer 5

It is true. The sun is constantly growing but at a rate that will not make the growth noticeable for about a billion years. As the sun runs out of hydrogen and the core begins to burn helium instead the growth will accelerate and the sun will be a red giant. Earth will not be livable at that time, it may not be livable a billion years from now, but earth might remain. Sun sun will be so big it will certainly gobble up Mercury. It might even swallow Venus but it might not be big enough to consume earth.

Answer 6

I think the sun is currently at a point where it should not be growing or shrinking much right now, where the inward pull of gravity is being balanced by the outward expansion forces caused by fusion. If you're asking on a day-to-day (or even year-to-year) basis does the sun grow, then I would say, no, not by any measurable amount... but hey, what do I know :|

Answer 7

Yes, it is true. The sun is converting all hydrogen to helium. There will be a time (10 million years) when it will have used up all the hydrogen and begin to die. The earth, together with the other planets, at that time, will all be destroyed.

Answer 8

I was just surfing BBC yesterday, and i fount out that the Sun is actually shrinking, but the atmosphere is getting bigger! But we won't be engulfed by the Sun unlike Mercury, we will be vapourised! loll.

Answer 9

lol a bunch of bull. The sun is getting smaller. All stars turn into red dwarfs and eventually explode. But that billions of year from now. The gases from a star only decrease. Like your gas stove. Once you use all the gas, you throw away the gas tank :O. But eventually planet earth will blow up from the suns explosion. Thats why scientist are so intrested in mars. If we somehow manage to live on mars, we can escape that explosion.

Answer 10

the sun will grow and grow and kill all planets near it and the surviving planets will become asteroids