What's Inside The Sun?

Summary

This video explores the Sun's mysteries, revealing its energy source as nuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium. It delves into the Sun's life cycle, the enigma of its hotter corona, and the powerful effects of solar flares on Earth, including the awe-inspiring auroras. The script also humorously considers the hypothetical scenario of slicing the Sun, highlighting the catastrophic consequences for our solar system.

Takeaways

• 🌞 The Sun is a G-type yellow dwarf star, relatively small compared to other stars, with a temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius.
• 🔥 The Sun's energy comes from nuclear fusion, where hydrogen atoms are fused to form helium, a process that will continue for another 4.5 billion years.
• 🌐 The Sun's corona is mysteriously hotter than its surface, with temperatures exceeding 300 times that of the surface, a phenomenon not yet fully understood by scientists.
• 💥 Nanoflares, small solar explosions, occur in the Sun's atmosphere millions of times per second, contributing to the high temperature of the corona.
• 🌌 Solar flares are massive releases of energy from the Sun, affecting Earth's electromagnetic spectrum and classified into X, M, and C classes based on their intensity.
• ❄️ X-class solar flares can cause severe disruptions, including global radio blackouts and interference with communication systems.
• 🌀 M-class flares may cause brief blackouts in polar regions, while C-class flares are usually unnoticeable to Earth.
• 🌌 Auroras, or polar lights, are indirectly caused by solar flares through coronal mass ejections (CMEs) interacting with Earth's atmosphere.
• 🛠️ The thought experiment of slicing the Sun would require tools capable of withstanding its extreme temperature, which do not currently exist.
• ☢️ If the Sun were to be sliced, Earth would be exposed to harmful gamma radiation and experience a drastic drop in temperature, leading to an 'eternal winter'.
• 💥 The loss of a significant portion of the Sun's mass would disrupt the solar system, potentially causing planets to change orbits and collide with each other.

Q & A

What is the primary source of the Sun's energy and heat?

The primary source of the Sun's energy and heat is nuclear fusion, a process where hydrogen atoms fuse to form helium, releasing energy in the process.

What type of star is the Sun classified as?

The Sun is classified as a 'G-type' yellow dwarf star, indicating it is relatively small in size compared to other stars and has a yellowish color.

What is the estimated age of the Sun?

Scientists have estimated the age of the Sun to be around 4.5 billion years old.

What is the temperature of the Sun's core?

The temperature of the Sun's core is approximately 15 million degrees Celsius (27 million degrees Fahrenheit).

Why is the Sun's corona hotter than its surface?

The reason behind the Sun's corona being hotter than its surface is still a mystery, but one hypothesis involves 'nanoflares', small explosions in the Sun's atmosphere that release a significant amount of energy.

What are solar flares and how do they affect Earth?

Solar flares are sudden flashes of increased brightness on the Sun's surface, releasing energy across the electromagnetic spectrum. They can cause radio blackouts, interfere with communications, and affect power grids on Earth.

How are solar flares categorized based on their energy output?

Solar flares are categorized into three classes based on their energy output: 'X-class flares' which are the most energetic and cause the most significant effects on Earth, 'M-class flares' which are medium-sized, and 'C-class flares' which have the least energy and are usually unnoticeable.

What are the potential consequences of slicing a piece of the Sun?

Slicing a piece of the Sun would lead to harmful radiation exposure, a deadly drop in Earth's temperature, unpredictable solar activity, and potential disruption of the solar system's orbits, possibly causing massive collisions.

What is the role of the Sun in maintaining the structure of the solar system?

The Sun, accounting for 99.8 percent of the solar system's mass, keeps all the planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and other objects in precise orbits, maintaining harmony and stability within the solar system.

How do solar flares contribute to the creation of auroras on Earth?

Solar flares can produce 'coronal mass ejections' (CMEs), which are combinations of radiation and particles. When these interact with gases in Earth's atmosphere, they excite the gases, leading to the beautiful northern and southern polar lights, or auroras.

What are the different colors of auroras caused by?

The different colors of auroras are caused by the interaction of CMEs with different gases in Earth's atmosphere. Oxygen produces greenish-yellow or red light, while nitrogen produces blue light.

Outlines

00:00

🌞 Understanding the Sun's Energy and Fusion

This paragraph introduces the Sun as the central star of our solar system, responsible for providing heat and maintaining the Earth's position. It delves into the process of nuclear fusion, which is the source of the Sun's energy. The Sun, classified as a G-type yellow dwarf star, is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium gases in a plasma state. Through nuclear fusion, two hydrogen atoms combine to form helium, releasing energy that sustains the Sun's immense heat and light. The Sun is currently in its main sequence stage and will continue fusing hydrogen for another 4.5 billion years before transitioning into a red giant and fusing helium into carbon. The paragraph also touches on the Sun's corona, which is mysteriously hotter than its surface, and the concept of nanoflares as a potential explanation for this phenomenon.

05:02

🌌 Solar Flares and Their Impact on Earth

This section discusses the effects of solar flares on Earth, classifying them into three categories based on their energy output: X-class, M-class, and C-class flares. X-class flares, being the most powerful, can cause global radio blackouts and interfere with communication signals, as exemplified by the 1859 Carrington event and the 1989 Quebec blackout. M-class flares may result in brief blackouts in polar regions, while C-class flares typically have negligible effects. The importance of studying solar activities for better prediction and mitigation of these effects is emphasized. Additionally, the paragraph highlights the positive aspect of solar flares, which are responsible for the beautiful auroras seen on Earth when coronal mass ejections interact with the atmosphere.

10:05

💥 The Hypothetical Scenario of Slicing the Sun

In this imaginative scenario, the paragraph explores the consequences of slicing a quarter of the Sun. It outlines four major outcomes: harmful gamma radiation exposure due to the exposed solar core, a drastic drop in Earth's temperature leading to an eternal winter, the unpredictable increase in solar activity as the Sun goes through a rebirth phase, and the potential disruption of the entire solar system's orbits, possibly leading to massive collisions and the Earth wandering off into space. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the importance of keeping such experiments within the realm of imagination due to the catastrophic effects they would have on the solar system.

Keywords

💡Sun

The Sun is the central celestial body of the Solar System, providing light and heat essential for life on Earth. It is a 'G-type' yellow dwarf star, which means it is relatively small compared to other stars and has a yellowish color with a core temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius. The Sun plays a central role in the video's theme, illustrating its importance in maintaining the Earth's temperature and its position in the Solar System.

💡Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear fusion is the process by which the Sun generates its energy. It involves the fusion of two hydrogen atoms to form a helium atom, releasing energy in the process. This process is central to the video's explanation of how the Sun maintains its 'fire' and is a key concept in understanding the Sun's energy production, mentioned when discussing the Sun's composition and its life cycle.

💡Solar System

The Solar System is the collection of celestial bodies, including planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and the Sun, that orbit around the Sun. The video emphasizes the Sun's role in the Solar System, accounting for 99.8 percent of its mass and maintaining the orbits of all objects within it. The stability of the Solar System is directly related to the Sun's mass and activity.

💡Corona

The corona is the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere, and it is a key concept in the video due to its mysteriously higher temperature compared to the Sun's surface. The corona's temperature is a point of intrigue for scientists, with the video mentioning it as being hotter than the Sun's surface, which is unusual and not fully understood.

💡Nanoflares

Nanoflares are small-scale solar explosions that occur in the Sun's atmosphere. The video introduces this concept as a possible explanation for the high temperatures of the Sun's corona. These nanoflares release energy equivalent to 10 megatons of a hydrogen bomb, contributing significantly to the heating of the corona.

💡Solar Flares

Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation from the Sun that can affect Earth's electromagnetic environment. The video categorizes them into 'X-class,' 'M-class,' and 'C-class' flares, each with varying levels of energy output. Solar flares are a critical aspect of the Sun's activity, with potential impacts on Earth's technology and environment.

💡Auroras

Auroras, also known as polar lights, are natural light displays in the Earth's sky, predominantly seen in the polar regions. The video explains that auroras are indirectly caused by solar flares, which produce coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that interact with gases in Earth's atmosphere, leading to the beautiful light displays. The colors of auroras are determined by the types of gases they interact with.

💡Carrington Event

The Carrington Event refers to a series of intense solar flares that occurred in 1859, which caused widespread failures in the early telegraph system. The video uses this historical event to illustrate the potential impact of solar flares on human technology, demonstrating the disruptive power of solar activity on Earth.

💡1989 Quebec Blackout

The 1989 Quebec blackout was a large-scale power outage caused by a solar storm resulting from a solar flare. The video mentions this event to highlight the real-world consequences of solar activity on Earth's infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of understanding and preparing for such events.

💡Thought Experiment

A thought experiment is a hypothetical scenario used to explore the consequences of an event or action. In the video, the concept of slicing the Sun is presented as a thought experiment to illustrate the potential catastrophic effects on Earth and the Solar System. This imaginative scenario helps viewers understand the Sun's importance to the stability of our celestial environment.

💡Space Weather

Space weather refers to the changing environmental conditions on the Sun and in the Solar System, which can affect space- and ground-based technological systems. The video discusses the importance of studying the Sun to better predict space weather, which can help in mitigating the adverse effects of solar activities on Earth.

Highlights

The sun is the source of heat and energy that prevents Earth from freezing and maintains the solar system's order.

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun, fusing hydrogen into helium and releasing energy.

The sun is a G-type yellow dwarf star, relatively small and yellowish with a temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius.

Estimated to be 4.5 billion years old, the sun was the first to form in the solar system.

The sun's energy production through nuclear fusion is similar to that used in Earth's nuclear reactors.

The sun is in its main sequence stage and will continue fusing hydrogen for another 4.5 billion years before becoming a red giant.

The sun's corona is a mystery with temperatures hotter than the sun's surface, contrary to typical heat distribution.

Nanoflares, small solar explosions, may explain the high temperatures of the sun's corona.

Solar flares are energetic bursts that can disrupt Earth's electromagnetic spectrum and cause blackouts.

Solar flares are categorized into X, M, and C classes, with X-class flares causing the most significant impacts on Earth.

Historical events like the Carrington event in 1859 demonstrate the potential damage solar flares can cause to Earth's infrastructure.

The 1989 Quebec blackout was linked to a solar flare, illustrating the real-world consequences of solar activity.

Solar flares can also create beautiful auroras when their energy interacts with Earth's atmosphere.

The sun's magnetic field and its activity are crucial for understanding and predicting space weather.

Thought experiment: Slicing the sun would result in harmful radiation, deadly cold, a new sun's birth, and solar system disruption.

The sun's disappearance or engulfing of Earth is a myth; it has 4.5 billion years left before transitioning to a red giant.

The sun's role as the solar system's maestro means any significant change in its mass would lead to chaos in the orbits of celestial bodies.

Transcripts

We all know the sun as the huge ball of fire in the sky that keeps our planet from freezing

and turning into a ball of ice, and keeps the Earth and the rest of the solar system

in its place.

But what gives the sun its mighty energy and heat power?

And what is happening inside of it that keeps its fire burning?

And a question to those with a wild imagination, can we really slice up a piece of the Sun?

And if we miraculously did, what will be the consequences on Earth and the effects on people

and even the whole solar system?

Will anything ever be the same?!

These are some very big questions that we're gonna answer throughout today's video, and

to get to them, we need to get to know the sun on a more basic level first.

Let's get to it.

Let us first start with knowing some basic information about the sun, like we said in

a previous video (put link to your video about sun's history), the sun is a "G-type" yellow

dwarf star which means it's relatively small in size in comparison with other stars and

it's yellowish in colour with a temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius (27 million

degrees Fahrenheit).

The Sun has been around long before the Earth or any other planet, it was the first thing

formed in the solar system, Scientists have estimated the age of the Sun to be around

4.5 billion years old.

But where does the sun get its energy?

What's inside it that's causing it to keep on burning?

That happens due to a process called "nuclear fusion" uhh what?

Let's take a step back and explain.

The Sun (just like all stars) is made up of hot gases so hot in fact that it’s found

in the fourth state of matter; the plasma, and like many other stars, these gases are

hydrogen and helium in the case of the Sun.

Now, in order for the Sun to sustain itself, it constantly fuses each 2 hydrogen atoms

to produce a single helium atom, the fusion process produces energy which keeps the Sun

burning.

And this whole process is called "nuclear fusion"

You might have heard of this process before, because it is the same process used in nuclear

reactors here on Earth.

Now, the sun is at its main sequence stage which means it will continue on fusing hydrogen

into helium for another 4.5 billion years, and then it will go into another stage for

1 billion years and become a "red giant" burning and fusing helium into a higher element which

is carbon.

If you think that the sun is a piece of work by now, I don't blame you, but wait till you

listen to this.

The sun is so full of mysteries and unsolved phenomena, one of these is the sun’s corona

(no not the Virus) the sun's corona is the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere.

The corona’s mystery resides in its temperature!

Let me explain, imagine you’re around a source of fire, and as you get closer to the

fire, you feel the heat more, and as you move away, you feel the heat less.

Well, that’s not quite what happens around the sun!

Weird, right?!

The outermost layer of the sun’s atmosphere; the corona is actually HOTTER than the surface

of the sun.

the sun’s surface has an overwhelming temperature of 5726.667 degrees Celsius (10,340 degrees

Fahrenheit), while the atmosphere is well beyond 300 times hotter!!!!

The reason behind this abnormal behaviour still puzzles scientists till today, but they

have a couple of ideas as to why it happens.

One of these ideas is what’s called “nanoflares” presented back in the year 2015, scientists

believe that small explosions called nanoflares burst in the sun’s atmosphere in millions

every second, and even though they are “nano” in solar terms, they produce an amount of

energy equivalent to 10 megatons of hydrogen bomb!

These explosions reach a temperature of up to 10 million Kelvins, and they cause the

sun’s atmosphere to heat up like we see in the sun’s corona.

That’s not all that's happening around the sun, the sun is very active, and that's not

unusual for a star, and it has a very strong magnetic field as well.

The lines of this magnetic field could sometimes be twisted on and around itself which helps

store a lot of energy that can sometimes suddenly get released.

An image showing some active regions of the sun.

The release of that energy is what’s called “solar flares” and they cover the whole

electromagnetic spectrum, and are a billion time the energy of the nanoflares we mentioned

earlier.

Solar flares can be very energetic that they heat material up to millions of degrees!!

Scientists classify solar flares into 3 categories: the “X-class flares” which are the major

solar flares that produce a huge amount of energy in the x-ray.

The “M-class flares” which are the medium size flares on the x-ray spectrum, and finally

the “C-class flares” which have the smallest amount of energy.

The energy that the solar flares eject are sent through space till they reach earth and

each class we mentioned have different implications on earth.

“X-class flares” are the biggest and they can cause radio blackouts on earth and around

the whole world as well as interference with radio signals and communications.

Solar flares can also mess with electricity lines causing electricity shortage like what

happened back in the year 1859 in London where a solar flare caused telegraph lines to stop

and burnt telegraph paper.

This incidence is better known as the “Carrington event”

And probably one of the biggest outcomes of solar flares in the modern history here on

earth happened back on March 13 of the year 1989 in Quebec canada, when the whole province

suffered from an electrical blackout of power grids that lasted as long as 12 hours.

The blackout was traced back to an explosion astronomers had observed 3 days earlier on

March 10 on the surface of the sun.

Following the explosion was a release of energy the equivalent of a thousand nuclear bombs

which was traveling to earth’s way at a million miles per hour.

The same solar flare also jammed radio communications, and didn’t only affect Canada, but had its

consequences on power grids in the United States as well.

“The New York Power” lost 150 megawatts of energy and “The New England Power Pool”

lost 1400 megawatts of energy causing 200 power grid problems across the united states

within minutes of the stars of the solar storm.

An image showing solar eruption.

Credit: ESA.

“M-class flares” on the other hand can cause brief blackouts only in the polar regions

of earth, while “C-class flares” are usually unnoticeable to earth.

Scientists say that solar storms causing major blackouts like what happened in Quebec are

rare, but scientists also confess it’s actually a matter of chance and can’t be exactly

known which solar flare will cause blackouts.

So, due to all these unfortunate implications of solar flares and solar activities, it is

crucial for astronomers to keep on studying the sun and understanding more about the solar

activities in order for them to better predict the sun’s space weather.

Because better predictions will ultimately lead us to come up with better solutions to

avert the problems caused by solar flares.

Because nobody would like to lose electricity and internet access for 12 hours in the future!

However, solar flares' effects are not all bad and harmful to Earth, in fact, they're

actually indirectly responsible for some of the most wonderful scenes on Earth, I'm talking

about the Auroras!

Solar flares can produce what's called "coronal mass ejections" (CME) which are a combination

of radiation and particles that interact with gases in Earth's atmosphere and excites them

to a higher state, and when the gases fall back into their normal state, they produce

energy in the form of the magnificent northern and southern polar lights; the auroras.

And if you're wondering about the different colours of the aurora, that's due to different

gases in Earth's atmosphere.

When the CMEs interact with the Oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, they produce a greenish

yellow light or a red light.

And when the CMEs interact with Nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere, they produce a blue light.

A Video Showing the CME interacting with Earth's atmosphere.

Credit: NASA.

We hear a lot of myths about the sun disappearing or the sun engulfing earth, but is there any

truth to that?

Well, as we established before, the sun still has 4.5 billion years burning hydrogen into

helium, so none of us should worry about any mysterious disappearances from the sun.

But I hope you like thought experiments, because we are going to imagine the most extraordinary

event that could ever happen to our sun!

What if the sun,,, got sliced up!?

This is a pretty wild thought, but let us indulge in it and see how it’s gonna turn

out.

The first step is obtaining the right tools, you can’t simply take out the table knife

and travel to space to slice up the Sun!

We would need an extremely sharp tool made out of a material that is ridiculously heat

resistant to sustain the enormous temperature of the Sun at 27 million degrees Fahrenheit

(15 million degrees Celsius).

First, I need to warn you that such a tool doesn't exist, because there simply isn't

a material right now that would not melt under such temperature, but that’s why this is

only a “thought experiment” you gotta be a little imaginative!

The second tool you’re gonna need is also as challenging as the first, which is a custom

made spacecraft to travel up to the sun and also withstand the temperature to perform

the slicing!

We can't send a human for obvious reasons!!

Ready with the two impossibly-obtained tools?

Let’s find out what happens after you slice open the sun.

There are 4 major consequences to slicing only a quarter of the sun moving down through

all its layers till we reach the core.

The first: Harmful radiation!

On earth, we first will have to deal with gamma radiation bursting towards us.

That's because the solar core is now exposed with no solar atmosphere to filter out harmful

radiation from the sun's core.

The second: Deadly cold!

The gamma ray radiation that will rush towards Earth will also lead it to its eternal winter!

Because the radiation will break the bonds between oxygen atoms and nitrogen atoms in

earth’s atmosphere that keep the planet warm, as well as Nitric acid rain pouring

down Earth.

The third: The birth of a new sun!

You might think that a quarter is not a huge portion, but in solar terms, this is a pretty

enormous chunk of the sun.

And after losing all that mass, the sun will never be the same and it will be quite unpredictable

with increase of solar activity because the sun will be in a stage of rebirth.

The forth: Solar system disruption!

The sun accounts for 99.8 percent of the solar system, it keeps all the planets, dwarf planets,

asteroids and other objects in a precise orbit and a perfect harmony between each other.

When quarter of the mass of the sun is sliced, we are looking into a hectic solar system

with different orbits and probably massive collisions between planets and other extraterrestrial

bodies in the solar system.

The earth may not even still be in orbit around the sun, but wander off in the vast darkness

of space.

The sun is the maestro of the solar system, if as much as only a quarter of it goes away,

the whole solar system suffers!

So probably we should only let this experiment be in our imaginations and not act on it anytime

soon.