The Origin of the Solar System Elements

[quad]

Here is an interesting chart showing which entities in our Universe create the various known elements of the Periodic Table.

Right now our sun is fusing helium from hydrogen. Eventually the hydrogen supply will be depleted and the sun will become a red giant which will last for about a billion years. The sun will expel most of its outer material creating a planetary nebula. The core or white dwarf that remains would be about the size of the earth but with 1/2 the mass of the sun. So a teaspoon of matter would weigh as much as a 5 1/2 ton elephant. Apparently our solar system sun is not massive enough to fuse carbon.

Imagine the Universe!

This site is intended for students age 14 and up, and for anyone interested in learning about our universe.

imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov

The Sun as a White Dwarf Star

[/caption] What will happen to all the inner planets, dwarf planets, gas giants and asteroids in the Solar System when the Sun turns into a white dwarf? This question is currently being pondered by a NASA researcher who is building a model of how our Solar System might evolve as our Sun loses...

www.universetoday.com

 

[James Snover]

Sol isn't big enough to fuse hydrogen, either. Too small, too cold. So it uses a process called proton-proton chain fusion to build up one hydrogen nucleus from four hydrogen nuclei.

And the crazy thing: everyone talks about how small the sun is. Which is true, there are some real monster stars out there. But Sol is twice as large as the average star.

And from what we can see around us, Sol is a remarkably quiet, well-mannered star. The other stars we see around us that match the sun are far more active than Sol.

 

[quad]

Sol isn't big enough to fuse hydrogen, either. Too small, too cold. So it uses a process called proton-proton chain fusion to build up one hydrogen nucleus from four hydrogen nuclei.

And the crazy thing: everyone talks about how small the sun is. Which is true, there are some real monster stars out there. But Sol is twice as large as the average star.

And from what we can see around us, Sol is a remarkably quiet, well-mannered star. The other stars we see around us that match the sun are far more active than Sol.

When you mention Sol are you referring to the Sun in our Solar System?

Sol (star)

This article is about the governing star of the Sol system. For the system itself, click here. Sol, also referred to as the Sun, is the gravitational parent and central star of the Sol system. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic...

expanse.fandom.com

According to this source our Sun is fusing hydrogen into helium.

Sun - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Sun is about halfway through its main-sequence stage, during which nuclear fusion reactions in its core fuse hydrogen into helium.

 

[James Snover]

When you mention Sol are you referring to the Sun in our Solar System?

Sol (star)

This article is about the governing star of the Sol system. For the system itself, click here. Sol, also referred to as the Sun, is the gravitational parent and central star of the Sol system. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic...

expanse.fandom.com

According to this source our Sun is fusing hydrogen into helium.

Sun - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The Sun is about halfway through its main-sequence stage, during which nuclear fusion reactions in its core fuse hydrogen into helium.

Yes. Sol is the name of our star, the sun.

AND: the sun does fuse hydrogen in helium, yes. But it has to do it indirectly, via the "proton-proton chain," being too small and too cold to directly smash four Hydrogen Nuclei into one Helium nucleus. The larger stars all go go the direct route: smash four hydrogens into one Helium with a bit of mass converted directly to energy, any time they get four atoms of hydrogen to together.

More fun facts: how bright is the sun, in the core? To human eyes, it is pitch black. Because any photons banging around in the core are at the level of x-ray and gamma-rays. So it wouldn't even look red hot, because it is way beyond that.

The energy derived from fusion: when you take your four hydrogen nuclei and smash them into one Helium nucleus, the resulting Helium nucleus does not have all the mass of the original four Hydrogens. That missing mass is converted directly into heat, along the lines of E=MC^2. The energy released by one such event is somewhat less than the energy it takes a butterfly to take to the air. But if you get quadrillions of such events going on simultaneously, you can generate enough heat to keep a star from collapsing into a black hole.

Density of the sun's core: about 12 times the density of lead.

the sun's core is only about 70% the volume of the sun. But it accounts for 99.5% of all the matter in the solar system. All the planets, asteroids, meteors, comets, gas, moons, i.e., everything else in the solar system, is made from the 0.5% of matter that isn't already in the core of the sun.

When the sun has fused its hydroegn into helium, it will spend between a 100-million to a billion or so years as a red giant. when it's finished with the Helium, it start fusing lithium, if I remember right. WHen it gets to the point it is fusing iron, that's where the fire goes out. Because it takes more energy to fuse iron than you get from fusing iron.

 

[quad]

Yes. Sol is the name of our star, the sun.

AND: the sun does fuse hydrogen in helium, yes. But it has to do it indirectly, via the "proton-proton chain," being too small and too cold to directly smash four Hydrogen Nuclei into one Helium nucleus. The larger stars all go go the direct route: smash four hydrogens into one Helium with a bit of mass converted directly to energy, any time they get four atoms of hydrogen to together.

More fun facts: how bright is the sun, in the core? To human eyes, it is pitch black. Because any photons banging around in the core are at the level of x-ray and gamma-rays. So it wouldn't even look red hot, because it is way beyond that.

The energy derived from fusion: when you take your four hydrogen nuclei and smash them into one Helium nucleus, the resulting Helium nucleus does not have all the mass of the original four Hydrogens. That missing mass is converted directly into heat, along the lines of E=MC^2. The energy released by one such event is somewhat less than the energy it takes a butterfly to take to the air. But if you get quadrillions of such events going on simultaneously, you can generate enough heat to keep a star from collapsing into a black hole.

Density of the sun's core: about 12 times the density of lead.

the sun's core is only about 70% the volume of the sun. But it accounts for 99.5% of all the matter in the solar system. All the planets, asteroids, meteors, comets, gas, moons, i.e., everything else in the solar system, is made from the 0.5% of matter that isn't already in the core of the sun.

When the sun has fused its hydroegn into helium, it will spend between a 100-million to a billion or so years as a red giant. when it's finished with the Helium, it start fusing lithium, if I remember right. WHen it gets to the point it is fusing iron, that's where the fire goes out. Because it takes more energy to fuse iron than you get from fusing iron.

Very cool. Thanks for that explanation! I'll be reading up more about it. I really enjoy watching shows about the Universe. Every few years they come out with a new one as more knowledge is gained.

I am looking forward to the day where we'll have a simulated Universe in virtual reality. Obviously not as complex and detailed as the real Universe but close enough from a distance to be almost convincing. It's still a ways off but perhaps in another decade or two would be great!

I've played around with Universe Sandbox which is interesting. But there's lots of room for improvement.

 

[BlackStang00]

Not to start a pissing match but just because the suns core is so hot doesn’t mean it doesn’t produce light in the visible spectrum.

And out of curiousity where did you get that info about x ray emissions? The corona is where x rays are produced.


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[James Snover]

Not to start a pissing match but just because the suns core is so hot doesn’t mean it doesn’t produce light in the visible spectrum.

And out of curiousity where did you get that info about x ray emissions? The corona is where x rays are produced.


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xrays and gamma rays are a byproduct of fusion. The xrays we observe on Earth are from the corona. Because when the photons are emitted from the core, they lose a lot of energy and "fall" down the EM spectrum to visible light.

Since the core is hydrogen compressed to metallic density, my bet is there is no visible light in the core.

Another fun fact: from the time a photon leaves the photosphere until it reaches Earth, is about, on average, depending on what time of year it is, 8.5 minutes. When a photon is born in the core, non-visible light though it is, if it could travel in a straight line, it'd take 2 minutes or so just to get to the photosphere. But that doesn't happen. Any photon in the heart of the sun is only capable of traveling about an inch in any direction before it hits another particle and is absorbed. Now that particle can't keep that photon, it has to be re-emitted, and it is. But here's the catch: it can, and is, re-emitted in any possible direction. Not necessarily along the path it was following. The photons end up taking what stellar physicists call "the drunkard's walk," and therfore, they can take in excess of a million years or possibly much longer, to finally make it's way to the photoshpere, to begin it's 8.5 minute trip to Earth.Fortunately, there's a hellof a lot of photons making the trip, and they've been being made for a hell of long time, so we have plenty of light.

 

[BlackStang00]

xrays and gamma rays are a byproduct of fusion. The xrays we observe on Earth are from the corona. Because when the photons are emitted from the core, they lose a lot of energy and "fall" down the EM spectrum to visible light.

Since the core is hydrogen compressed to metallic density, my bet is there is no visible light in the core.

Another fun fact: from the time a photon leaves the photosphere until it reaches Earth, is about, on average, depending on what time of year it is, 8.5 minutes. When a photon is born in the core, non-visible light though it is, if it could travel in a straight line, it'd take 2 minutes or so just to get to the photosphere. But that doesn't happen. Any photon in the heart of the sun is only capable of traveling about an inch in any direction before it hits another particle and is absorbed. Now that particle can't keep that photon, it has to be re-emitted, and it is. But here's the catch: it can, and is, re-emitted in any possible direction. Not necessarily along the path it was following. The photons end up taking what stellar physicists call "the drunkard's walk," and therfore, they can take in excess of a million years or possibly much longer, to finally make it's way to the photoshpere, to begin it's 8.5 minute trip to Earth.Fortunately, there's a hellof a lot of photons making the trip, and they've been being made for a hell of long time, so we have plenty of light.

Yeah the x rays come from the corona not the core. Maybe there are some that are produced in the core but it’s been well established they are produced in the corona due to the higher temperature than the surface. And fusion still emits visible light, it emits light all over the spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays.


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[James Snover]

Yeah the x rays come from the corona not the core. Maybe there are some that are produced in the core but it’s been well established they are produced in the corona due to the higher temperature than the surface. And fusion still emits visible light, it emits light all over the spectrum from radio waves to gamma rays.


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"maybe there are some produced in the core," huh? Suit yourself.