How do we know that the sun is made of gas?

Question

I mean, what were the test/experiments that were conducted in order to reach that conclusion? A friend of mine doesnt believe that it is made of gas for several reasons, (ill spare you)- they all make sense but im sure there are scientific explanations that he just doesnt know about. So- im on a mission to tell him how we know...i also bet him $20 lol....thanks for your help!

Answer 1

Yes, the Sun has gas.  That's why the other stars keep their distance.

From spectroscopy, you can tell what elements the Sun is made of.  The Sun is mostly made of hydrogen, which is the second most common element in the Universe.  The most common is stupidity - which explains so much about the Earth.  Anyway, from the peak brightness in the spectrum, you can tell the temperature of the Sun. With the temperature and the material, you can go to the lab and heat that material to that temperature and see what it is.  From the gravity and diameter, you can tell the surface gravity.  From that you can tell what the pressure is on the surface. For hydrogen at this pressure, this is hot enough to be a gas, but not hot enough to be a plasma.

If you win your bet using this info, please send a dollar my way by email.  There might be a slot in your computer for it, though some of the newer computers seem to have lost this feature.  If that's the case, don't bother.

Answer 2

By obtaining the Atomic Spectrum of the elements there out of the radiation that come on earth from sun.

Answer 3

Spectroscopic observations.

Answer 4

Looking at the surface of the sun through special telescopes (don't look at the sun through a normal telescope) we can see the surface swirling around which proves it is either a liquid or a gas.

The sun glows in exactly the same way that a hot gas glows. If you examine the light of the sun through a spectroscope which breaks up the light into a rainbow of colours, you can see that it is particularly bright at certain frequencies / colours, which tells us which gases it is made of.