How does the sun burn when there is no oxygen in space?

Question

How does the sun burn when there is no oxygen in space?

Answer 1

The sun is "burning" by fusing hydrogen into helium - aka thermonuclear reaction. It doesn't need oxygen to do that. The sun's huge mass provides enough pressure in its core to sustain this reaction.

Answer 2

I am always amazed at how many times this exact same question is asked every week.

The sun isn't burning.  It generates heat and light through the fusion of hydrogen to helium (nuclear fusion), not by the chemical reaction of ordinary fire.

So it doesn't need oxygen, since its not fire.

Answer 3

The sun currently is producing heat & light by fusing hydrogen. When this runs out in 3 or so billion years, the sun then will the fuse helium turning into a red giant. If a star is large enough it will go supernova where heavier elements are made

Answer 4

it doesn't. it produces energy with nuclear fusion.

why do ppl keep asking this?

Answer 5

The sun generates heat and light from nuclear fusion in its core.

Answer 6

The Sun does not 'burn' in the same sense that a fire burns. The reason it is so hot and bright is not due to chemical combustion like that in a fire, but due to a nuclear fusion reaction, by which hydrogen atoms are fused into helium atoms, releasing energy in the process. This is the same kind of reaction that takes place inside fusion bombs, which are the most powerful kind of explosive device humans have built; the reason the Sun doesn't explode from the reaction is that it also has an immense amount of gravity that keeps it together.

You can read more about fusion here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fus...

Answer 7

Ohhh we are soooo busted! You caught us. Now you know that the whole outer space thing is a hoax just like the moon landings.You are sooo smart!

Answer 8

It's a thermonuclear reaction-- FUSION

Answer 9

Unfortunately astronomy is full of historical naming problems.

For instance: planetary Nebulae have nothing to do with planets.

The term "burning" was adopted because there was a historical belief that is was chemically burning.

We have only understood the true mechanism (nuclear fusion) for about a century (if that), and we adopted the term hydrogen-burning and it stuck.

It's just nuclear fusion.

Incidentally - there is oxygen in space - just not that much

Answer 10

The Sun does not burn by combustion (which requires oxygen). It generates its light and heat by nuclear fusion, converting hydrogen to helium.

Answer 11

*laughing*

The Sun is powered by a process called nuclear fusion, you moron! It's made of incandescent gases!

Answer 12

it is hot, from fusion.  it fuses two hydrogens into one helium

Answer 13

Burning is a chemical process, combining an oxidizer (usually oxygen) to fuel - gasoline, wood, or whatever...

The sun is undergoing fusion - combining 4 hydrogen atoms into one helium atom, billions of times a second.  It's the same process that occurs in hydrogen bombs - releasing huge amounts of energy for a relatively small amount of material.  This requires only heat and pressure - intense pressure - like that found in the core of our sun...  

Answer 14

It isnt really burning. it is just giving off massive amounts of light and radiation from the fusing of hydrogen into helium