Dan Phillips, age 12, Spokane, Wash,,
Will the sun ever burn itself out?
If the sun were made of coal, it would all burn out in 5,000 years. This me:‑‑ns it would last from the building of the pyramids to the present time. Since the sun has been shining on the earth for at least two billion years, we know that it is not a furnace of burning coal.
Actually, the sun is an atomic furnace. The activity is very much like the fury of the hydrogen bomb, Compared with the constantly burning sun, the bomb is a small explosion of atomic fusion. Basically, atoms of hydrogen are fusing together in fours to make atoms of helium. Several atomic particles are left over and, when the fusion process is multiplied by trillions, they provide the energy of the sun.
The fuel used by the sun is hydrogen and the sun has a plentiful supply of it. Every second four million tons of fuel is used up to keep the solar furnace blazing, This atomic action has been going on for billions of years. It is estimated that the sun has enough hydrogen fuel to keep it cheerily burning away for at least another 15 billion years. So nobody has to worry about running short of sunshine.
It’s lucky for us that the sun pours out its radiant energy at an even rate. If the solar furnace blazed up in a spurt four times its usual energy, our oceans would boil. If it sank to half its power, the seas would all freeze solid.
The atomic activity of the sun is said to take place deep in the center. Surface temperatures are about 6,000 degrees Centigrade. In the center, the temperature maybe 20 million degrees. The atomic activity is generated down in this terrific heat and pressure.
The theory of solar energy states that it is a total of trillions of small atomic fusions. The process is a cycle of six complicated steps taking about five million years. Each little fusion is a radioactive giv,;‑and‑ sake among a number of atoms, Finally four hydrogen atoms are fused to form one atom of helium.
Two tiny particles and a small amount of mass are left over from each of these atomic packages. The surplus mass is the energy of the solar furnace and the atom of helium. is the ash. Billions of these small atomic fusions are ready to release their energy every second. If this theory of solar energy is correct, each tiny H‑bomb has been a‑building in the heart of the sun for five million years.