Has the Sun stopped burning?

Question

Has the Sun stopped burning?

Answer 1

No, it's got a good 3 billion years on it before it finishes converting all its hydrogen to helium, then it'll switch to Red Giant mode, begin 'burning' helium and consume all the terrestrial planets including Earth.  :)

Technically it doesn't burn, it generates heat and light through nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms.  So I suppose you could say it didn't START burning, let alone stop.  The 'flames' you see around the Sun are actually waves of plasma.

Answer 2

yes, i'm chilly....

Answer 3

  No it's going great guns but eventually it will begin to wind down and will do so for about the next 5 billion years.

Answer 4

No, the sun is not *burning* because it isn't really on *fire*. The sun is a ball of nuclear fusion... it is a ball of exploding gas, but it really isn't on fire.

Answer 5

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

No.

Answer 6

All stars in the universe have a life cycle like humans or any other living being on earth.They are born,they grow and then they die with the supernova explosion from which a new star is again born.

Currently,our sun is in the "red giant"stage ,where the hydrogen gas is continuously being converted into helium and in the process, its generating light and heat.The sun will continue to be in this stage for another 4 billion years generating heat and light ,supporting the life on earth.

After 4 billion years,the sun will go into the "white dwarf"stage,where it will stop the hydrogen to helium conversion and therby stop generating heat and light.All the hydrogen in sun would have got used up by then.

I wonder how will life continue on earth after that.

Even the plants need sunlight for photosynthesis which inturn gives oxygen..Absence of heat and light would result in the death of all plants and there would be no oxygen.Probably this will end the life on earth.

Answer 7

It does not burn, but here, it is still shining. Pretty warm summer day currently.  

Answer 8

Hang on for twelve minutes and if the light goes out! run?

Answer 9

No. It hasn't stopped "burning" at all.

Answer 10

There are way fewer neutrinos detected than expected.  Here are some theories as to why:

(1)  Theory is wrong.

(2)  We're not as good at detecting them as we think.

(3)  All stars are variable, including the sun, and the cause of variability is the core turning on and off by oscillation, and the sun's core is currently off.  If so, we're within 50,000 years of an ice age.  But, that happens anyway.

Answer 11

No, it's night time.

Answer 12

no, its still burning, thats why its flames still gives out light and heat. but scientists say it will use up its hydrogen gases in 5 billion years. when that happens, we will probably die.

sunlight.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun

Answer 13

No it hasn't. Are you seriously going to listen to the rather shoddy opinion of one dodgy scientist, against the views of every other physicist on the planet? Consider that neutrino detection is extremely difficult, and that other detectors are vast underground chambers filled with distilled water. They're not something one can make on a whim and they're extremely complicated experiments.

The Sun has more than enough fuel for the next five billion years or so. It is a physical impossibility for it to stop "burning", especially when it isn't actually burning at all. I suggest you google "Sun" and read up about it.

Answer 14

Believe it or not, a tank of cleaning fluid buried underground is telling us about what goes on at the center of the Sun. and the startling news is that the Sun may have stopped burning, albeit temporarily.

According to theory, the nuclear reaction include the Sun should produce atomic particles known as neutrinos, which escape directly into space and reach the Earth. Neutrinos are difficult to detect, but some of them can be captured by chlorine atoms. A good source of chlorine is the liquid called perchloroethylene, which is used in dry cleaning.

An American scientist, Raymond Davis, has set up a tank of 400,000 liters (88,000 gallons) of this dry-cleaning fluid in a gold mine in South Dakota. It is placed 1.5 km underground to shield it from other forms of radiation. The experiment has detected far fewer neutrinos coming from the Sun than astronomers expected. One possible reason is that the Sun's nuclear furnace needs stoking.