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Yes. The sun is a giant fusion engine. It's primary work is fusing hydrogen into helium.
Later on in its life, it will fuse helium and heavier elements together until it reaches the end of its life fusing elements to create iron. Iron is the last fusion product created in stars in their "normal" lifetime. Heavier elements are created in nature only in supernovae.
A link is provided below. It's to the Wikipedia article on stellar nucleosynthesis, which is the "cookbook" for the operation of stars.
The sun (or any star) can be considered a giant gravitationally confined fusion reactor. However I sometimes like to think of them as giant ultra-high yield fusion bombs (the fireball is what we see directly, it does not rise forming a mushroom cloud as there is no air in space, and it lasts billions of years instead of minutes due to amount of fuel).
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∙ 13y ago
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∙ 15y agoNo, currently the sun is burning hydrogen and producing helium. Later in its life, when the hydrogen supplies are running out, the sun will start burning helium, and turning it into even heavier things.
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∙ 15y agoNo. See the related question on the sun fusing hydrogen to make helium.
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∙ 14y agoDing, ding, ding! Within stars, hydrogen is fused together to make helium.
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∙ 13y agoThe Sun is approximately 73.5 % hydrogen and 25% helium.
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∙ 11y agoFalse. It is other way around.
Helium is formed by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes in the sun.
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∙ 13y agoYes
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What gas is the sun burning?
The SUN does NOT BURN gas. It is a FUSION of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms.
The sun burns helium to make what?
The sun does not burn in the conventional sense, it is a fusion bomb confined by its own gravity. At the core of the sun, hydrogen plasma fuses to form the element helium, a and this fusion releases the energy which makes the sun hot. hydrogen, helium
Is it true stars like the sun burn hydrogen producing helium?
All stars fuse hydrogen into helium - the slight difference in atomic weight between 4 hydrogen atoms and one helium atom, is given off as radiation.
I know that the Sun burns hydrogen to create helium but what is the Sun doing with all of this helium What would happen if the sun had no helium And what role does helium play in making the sun hot?
Just like a fire is gradually cooling down,so the Sun is.Its hottest elements(hydrogen)become helium,which is COLDER
What keeps the sun shining brightly every year instead of burning up and dying?
The Sun does not burn like a fire, the process that goes on in the Sun (and almost all stars) is the fusion of Hydrogen into Helium and Helium to Lithium etc. There is a lot of Hydrogen in the Sun. It will take another 4 or 5 billion years for most of it to be converted into heavier elements.
What are the gases that burn in the sun?
it is made of mostly hydrogen and helium
What gas is the sun burning?
The SUN does NOT BURN gas. It is a FUSION of hydrogen atoms into helium atoms.
Periodic element that means burn?
Helium was named after the sun Helios.
Is the oxygen sufficient for burning of hydrogen on the sun?
No. The hydrogen on the Sun does not burn; it fuses to make helium instead.
Does the sun burn propane to make butane?
No. The Sun doesn't "burn" anything; it fuses hydrogen to create helium, and vast quantities of energy. Propane is what powers your gas barbecue. The Sun is powered by nuclear explosions.
The sun burns helium to make what?
The sun does not burn in the conventional sense, it is a fusion bomb confined by its own gravity. At the core of the sun, hydrogen plasma fuses to form the element helium, a and this fusion releases the energy which makes the sun hot. hydrogen, helium
Why does the sun continuously burn?
It derives its energy from nuclear fusion reactions that transform, in its nucleus, hydrogen into helium.
How does the sun don't burn from its heat?
The sun does burn in a way, but not in the way you are thinking of. Nuclear fusion occurs in the sun which means that the gravitational forces of such a massive body force hydrogen atoms together, to produce helium. Helium is less massive than hydrogen and the lost mass is converted to energy, E=mc^2. That energy is radiated out in the electromagnetic spectrum which is what reaches us on Earth. The sun is basically a big ball of burning plasma, so it does burn itself but the products of this 'burning' are then burned in turn. Hydrogen to helium to carbon at which out sun is not massive enough to have enough gravitational force to burn so that will cause our sun to die.
What type of surface sun has?
The sun has methane, Helium etc.... type of gaseous surface. Which will burn may be more than a billion years.
Why will the sun burn out?
The sun generates energy by fusing hydrogen into helium. Eventually it will run out of hydrogen. However, this won't happen for several billion years.
How will the sun burn out?
In a sense. The sun produces energy by fusing hydrogen into helium in its core. In about 5 billion years that hydrogen will burn out. Over the following two billion years the sun will fuse helium in the core and hydrogen in a surrounding shell before shedding its outer remnants and leaving behind a degenerate remnant called a white dwarf.
How is helium and hydrogen used on a large scale?
helium does not burn, hydrogen will burn in air
