NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm just full of ideas today. :D


What were to happen if we gave the sun more hydrogen to munch on? Would it stop expanding? Would it contract back to it's original statis? Would it still expand...except now it'll be much hotter?


*feels all creative for this topic as well*

aw c'mon?! isn't this also a good discussion?

The Sun is not expanding. It's more like a bell tolling. It goes big then small, but just a little. When it runs out of hydrogen to burn and starts using helium and then heavier elements, then it will expand very rapidly.

Since a star can only use a certain percentage of its hydrogen as fuel (25% for a star the size of our Sun, I think) the new hydrogen would simply sit on top. So the Sun would be bigger. The hydrogen at the core would then have to burn faster because of the added pressure, which means it would run out faster.

Edit: I think, I'm no astrophysicist.

i think that it would heat up and expand, the increased mass would pull the planets out of alignment and earth's delicate balance would topple - burning us to a fiery crisp charcoal planet.

im hoping.

:D

What if somehow we inject the New Hydrogen in it's core?

lets just inject it with bavarian cream instead... mmmm .... bavarian cream.

What if somehow we inject the New Hydrogen in it's core?
Mmh... maybe the hydrogen at the outer layer of the core will stop burning.

We have to vaccinate the sun against disease! Inject it w/vaccines!

We have to vaccinate the sun against disease! Inject it w/vaccines!

Vaccinate eh? Does that mean the Sun can catch a cold? :D

"This is very interesting...but stupid." - Valkyrie

Does it matter? The human race wouldn't likely exist when the sun's set to go kaput.

Does it matter? The human race wouldn't likely exist when the sun's set to go kaput.
Pfff, you obviously haven't seen our nuclear stockpile numbers..... We can keep warm for a long time.........

Pfff, you obviously haven't seen our nuclear stockpile numbers..... We can keep warm for a long time.........
I think he's more talking about "Once the sun's eaten up Mercury, if humanity hasn't already wiped out life as we know it, we'd be down to a fraction of the existing arable land. Which wouldn't matter, because the radiation from just standing outside for a few hours'd give you cancer anyway."

I can't figure out what'd happen. All the hydrogen on earth is probably eight or nine orders of magnitude less that what the sun's going to use, so I don't predict a long-term effect, but in the short term, find me an astrophysicist.

I think you'll find that the total amount of Hydrogen in the Earth is so tiny compared to the Sun that it would have no effect. The Sun is something like 300 000 times the size of the Earth. It loses 5 million tonnes of mass every second due to the nuclear reaction going on in it's core. Yet it'll still take another 5 or 6 billion years to run it's course.
If it had more Hydrogen (and we're talking a lot more), it would have become a Blue Giant star. It's temperature would have been a lot, lot hotter (20 000K vs 5000K for our Sun) and it would have burnt out in a few million years, instead of billions it currently has to look forward to.

No, I meant should the sun mysteriously disappear suddenly, we have the nuclear capabilties to light the sky up for a while.

No, I meant should the sun mysteriously disappear suddenly, we have the nuclear capabilties to light the sky up for a while.
And, while that makes no sense in the context you made your original comment, my reply, minus the "Mercury" comment and with the chronology editted a bit, still works.