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In what possible way can the sun never run out of fuel to continuously produce nuclear fusion?

From where would such food or fuel come?

Update:

Thank you Disgruntledstudent for your answer but you are missing something. Is there not things within the solar system that possibly supplies the sun with fresh food and fuel all the time?

Update 2:

Thank you Kim for your answer but you are comparing what happens to massive and supermassive stars to the small star we call the sun. The sun burns through its fuel at much slower rates and there are things that sustain the sun providing enough fresh fuel to offset its rate of nuclear fusion rate where it will never convert iron. More massive stars receive the same fresh fuel source but they still burn off their fuel too fast to balance out or offset their output. Again, from where does this fuel come?

Update 3:

Disgruntledstudent the sun becoming a red giant is a theory not a fact. The sun has the potential for indefinite existence because of the constant amount of fresh fuel which offsets its output of energy. On what does the sun feed? Here is a clue. Planets, especially the earth, feed and refuel from the same source.

Update 4:

Life kind of sucks you need your ears and mind examined, you should refrain from speaking before you think.

Update 5:

The sun is a fifth generation star and is a very small star which gives it the potential to last indefinitely. How could this be possible?

Update 6:

I will reveal my thoughts before time exires. :)

Update 7:

aDz thank you for your opinion. :)

Update 8:

Here is a clue. The sun feeds or refuels by the same things that planets do from within their own solar system.

Update 9:

The ANSWER: The sun constantly receives hydrogen from within the solar system (as it moves through the galaxy and, coincidentally, the galaxy moves through space) along with tons of food or fuel in the form of comets, asteroids and meteors which balance its energy output whereas it will be sustain indefinitely. Larger stars receive such also but they still burn through their fusion process faster than the amount they receive.

Update 10:

The ANSWER: The sun constantly receives hydrogen from within the solar system (as it moves through the galaxy and, coincidentally, the galaxy moves through space) along with tons of food or fuel in the form of comets, asteroids and meteors which balance its energy output whereas it will be sustain indefinitely. Larger stars receive such also but they still burn through their fusion process faster than the amount they receive.

3 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    9 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    “Foolish and arrogant”? You hit the nail on the head there, Life Kinda Sucks – have you seen “The ANSWER” above from ‘Mr. Immortel’? If he’d said “Jehovah exhales hydrogen directly into the heart of the Sun” he’d be no less foolish, arrogant, and WRONG.

    But if you take a glance at some of his other questions, a pattern starts to emerge: bat-sh¡t crazy hypotheses, asserted without evidence, posed as quiz questions, for which he condescends to supply we well-informed astronomy aficionados with the “correct” answers. Looks like Disgruntledstudent cottoned on and deleted his answer to this question already.

    I thought I’d chip in to warn other folks: don’t waste your time answering any ‘Astronomy & Space’ questions from this ‘Mr. Immortel’ character – he already knows the answer to everything he asks, and all his answers are just plain WRONG.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    9 years ago

    Oh, the sun will run out of fuel eventually. But the sun has a huge amount of hydrogen, and once that starts running out products of earlier fusion like helium will start to get fused, and then the result of that will be fused, all the way up to iron. (Fusing elements heavier than iron requires energy, rather than releasing it.) That means our sun can keep burning for a very long time.

    Our sun is scheduled to burn brightly for another 5 billion years or so. After that, it will become a white dwarf: a small star softly glowing with heat. White dwarves never really "go out", they just slowly become less luminous.

  • ?
    Lv 5
    9 years ago

    You stated:

    "there are things that sustain the sun providing enough fresh fuel to offset its rate of nuclear fusion rate where it will never convert iron"

    What things? You sound foolish and arrogant.

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