05. Is there fire on the Sun? When will it go out? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

Many people over the ages have tried to discover the source of the Sun's power and some have even calculated how long it could last if it were powered by various sources like a coal burning fire. But the times calculated for the Sun if it were burning like a giant lump of coal could not account for the enormous length of time that scientists such as geologists were finding in their analyses of the age of rocks on the Earth. So they soon realized that the Sun could not be powered by any ordinary means like a common fire or it would soon go out! The mystery remained until the twentieth century when scientists discovered that the Sun was powered by fusion-the conversion of hydrogen into helium with the enormous release of energy. Nuclear fusion has provided the Sun with enough energy for its first 4.6 billion years and will allow it to continue for many more billions of years before it begins to change.

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Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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