What happens when asteroids and other debris fall into the Sun. How can solar output be static?

Question

I would think, matter that gets close enough to the Sun, might be transformed into energy in the form of radiation. how much energy would have been released if Shoemaker levy-9 had hit the sun instead of Jupiter. How often does it happen that comets and asteroids are consumed by the Sun. Would we notice.

Answer 1

I think most things would sizzle away before they hit the sun.  If something was big enough to reach the sun and hit it, I don't think we'd be around to wonder about the after effects!

Answer 2

the amount of energy released would be negligible compared to the sun's output

Answer 3

Spend some time studying the size of the sun vs. the planets. The sun dwarfs any asteroid by millions of times.

It would be like saying our CO2 emissions are causing  climate change. Simply insane.

You do have a point on solar output. It is not static and changes in the solar output can and does effect our climate each and every day. It is also the reason we have cliamte change.

Answer 4

ya know, if you go pour a cup of water into the ocean, and then measure the difference in the tide, because of all that water you've added, you'll get a reasonable approximation.

<<I would think, matter that gets close enough to the Sun, might be transformed into energy in the form of radiation. how much energy would have been released if Shoemaker levy-9 had hit the sun instead of Jupiter.>>

the sun generates it's energy in the middle, fusing hydrogen into helium.  that energy then works it's way to the surface.  none of the energy is "created" on the surface.  also, nothing "burns" on the sun.  burning requires oxygen, and there is none, to speak of.

consider, a reasonable sized sunspot is several earth diameters wide.  and shoemaker levy was a few miles.  you wouldn't be able to see where it went in.

finally, stuff falls into the sun every day.

stuff falls to the earth every day.

neither is noticeable.

Answer 5

In the early days of the solar system objects would have been falling into the sun all the time. It is probably still a common occurrence. The small sunspot in this image is the size of the whole Earth. Mercury, the closest orbiting object to the Sun, the sun ward side gets to 427 degrees Celsius, hot enough to melt tin and this is at it's closest approach 46 million km. Any large 'asteroid' falling into the Sun would be vaporised before it even reached the surface.

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/syno...

Answer 6

I think CrazyCon said it best, and it bares repeating:

Asteroids affect the Sun as much as man affects Earth's climate.  The Sun causes climate change on Earth.

Excellent answer!

Answer 7

Solar mass = approx. 2.0X10^30 Kg

Ave. asteroid mass = approx. 1.0X10^17 Kg.

An asteroid is, therefore, 0.000000000005% of the mass of the sun.

Average human mass (all humans, not just big westerners!) = 50,000 gm.

Average mosquito mass = .002 gm

A mosquito is, therefore, 0.000004% as massive as a human. A mosquito impacts upon a person one million times harder than an asteroid hitting the sun.

So, I ask you back: "Would we notice" if one cell from a mosquitoe's wing landed on our head?

Answer 8

nothing happens because the asteroids/debris  burn before they reach the sun. as for solar output i dont know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U1t7AjhR...

this video is really good. i found it the other day

Answer 9

The sun is a variable star, it's just not very variable (and the variability is not correlated to temperature any more, that stopped when we started putting lots of CO2 into the atmosphere).

Though you've got to realise that the sun is very big and releases a lot of energy, a comet or asteroid hitting it just isn't going to be significant.

"How often does it happen that comets and asteroids are consumed by the Sun."

All the time, just look up SOHO if you want to see videos of it happening.

Answer 10

Nothing.  Our Sun is too huge.  Even if Jupiter were to crash into it there'd be little effect.

Answer 11

It's not static.  But things falling into the Sun are tiny compared with other, internal effects.

In fact, solar radiation has been decreasing slightly for many years, while temperatures have been rising.  The reason temperatures have been going up is that the greenhouse effect of CO2 is more powerful, and overcomes the small decrease.  Documented proof:

"Recent oppositely directed trends in solar

climate forcings and the global mean surface

air temperature", Lockwood and Frolich (2007), Proc. R. Soc. A

doi:10.1098/rspa.2007.1880

http://www.pubs.royalsoc.ac.uk/media/pro...

News article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6290228.st...