Is the sun really on fire? | Hey Ray
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - We got a great question from Heather Abraham's son Rocco. He asked, "Why is the sun on fire"?
The sun may seem like a giant fireball, but is it really on fire? Let's first talk about what fire is. According to the National Fire Protection Association, you need three things for a fire to happen. Fuel, heat, and oxygen. That is known as the "Fire Triangle."
The fire will burn until one or more of the triangle's pieces run out.
The sun is different and does not have a fire triangle. NASA says the Sun is a huge ball of hydrogen and helium held together by its own gravity.
There is no oxygen, so the sun is not really on fire!
If you look at pictures of the sun, it can look like it is on fire.
Here on Earth, we can even feel the heat from the sun, and it can burn us even though it is 92 million miles away. Many people even refer to our nearest star as a "giant fireball in the sky"! There isn't fire though.
Inside the Sun's core, nuclear fusion occurs. Western Washington University says that during this fusion, four Hydrogen atoms are converted into one Helium atom because the sun's temperatures are high enough for hydrogen nuclei to smash together and form helium nuclei, releasing tremendous amounts of energy in various forms.
Like a lot of heat and a lot of light.
So much light that it is dangerous to look directly at the sun without special eye protection. The sun also generates a lot of heat, too.
It is probably better to compare the sun to a microwave than a campfire because a microwave can heat things up without fire! The sun is more of a super microwave since the sun's core, according to NASA, can top 27 million degrees Fahrenheit.
So, rather than thinking of the sun being on fire, think of the sun as being much, much, much, much hotter than fire!
