Why doesn't Sun run out Oxygen when it Burns?

The sun is the center of our solar system and has been burning brightly for 4.5 billion years. It is expected to burn for another 5 billion years before switching to helium burning for another 130 million years.

If the sun has been burning this long and will continue to do so, many wonder how it hasn't run out of oxygen. If you want a short answer, then it's simple.

The sun does not use oxygen to burn. Instead, it has hydrogen reserves that burn and perform nuclear fusion instead of using oxygen.

Are you still confused? Do not worry. The following article will discuss how and why the sun never runs out of oxygen. We'll walk you through the process of burning the sun and what makes these glowing flares light up our skies every day.

Why doesn't the sun run out of oxygen when it burns?

Solar combustion is not chemical combustion. Simply put, the sun doesn't use oxygen to burn so it can't be used up. Instead of chemical combustion, the sun is nuclear fusion.

Many people think of the sun as a giant ball of fire, almost like a giant bonfire. However, it was more like a colossal hydrogen bomb.

In the grand scheme of space, the sun is quite close to Earth but nothing to worry about. It is still far enough for the effects of nuclear fusion to be an absolute minimum.

All stars are full of hydrogen and work in the same way as the sun and how a hydrogen bomb would work.

Difference between carbon combustion and nuclear fusion

Carbon burning

When studying the combustion of carbon, it has been discovered that the carbon atoms in the fuel move closer to the oxygen atoms in the air. These then bind together to form carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

When this happens, the hydrogen atoms in the fuel bond with oxygen atoms and form water molecules.

The burning of carbon and hydrogen is the main chemical reaction that occurs although there are often more chemical reactions taking place in a carbon-based fire.

We experience the light and heat of fire because of the energy released by this combustion. Almost every fire we see in life is carbon burning such as bonfires, candle flames, barbecues, forest fires, gasoline burning, and many more.

The difference here is that burning carbon requires oxygen to burn. When all the oxygen has been used up, the carbon burning stops.

Unlike the bonfires we experience, the sun uses nuclear fusion to burn. This is when atomic nuclei fuse together to form newer and larger nuclei.

Atoms became new elements because of how the atomic nucleus determined what an atom was and how it behaved.

This resulted in changes in the nucleus and atoms into new elements. An example is when two hydrogen atoms become fused and make one helium atom.

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Unlike carbon combustion, nuclear fusion does not require oxygen to burn. No additional ingredients are needed at all.

As long as there is enough pressure or heat to compress the atomic nuclei enough that they overcome their electrostatic repulsion and become bonded together into a single nucleus, nuclear fusion can occur.

The sun is like a giant nuclear fusion bomb. Inside a nuclear fusion bomb, the extremes of temperature and pressure are complemented by other bombs. In stars, this intense temperature and pressure is provided by gravity.

The mass of the star is so great that any gravity created by this mass eventually crushes the star inward. This is enough to create nuclear fusion.

When this fusion occurs, a large amount of energy is released and we experience it through sunlight. The energy released by the fusion further helps the nuclear fusion reaction to continue.

The reason why our sun emits so much light is because of how hot it is from nuclear fusion. It has a scorching core temperature of 16 million Kelvin with a core pressure of 25 thousand trillion Newtons per square meter.

This intense heat caused the sun to shine and shine brightly like red rays of light from a heated piece of metal.

How does nuclear fusion work?

There are two key forces at work with nuclear fusion. It is the electromagnetic force and the strong nuclear force that attract. It is this electromagnetic force that causes the repulsion between the two nuclei of the hydrogen atom.

Compared to the strong nuclear force, the electromagnetic force is weaker. As the two nuclei get closer because of the strong gravitational pressure on the sun, the strong nuclear force becomes dominant.

This causes the nuclei to bond together and this is independent of the electromagnetic repulsion. The amount of pressure required to move atoms close enough for the nuclei to stick together is enormous.

Any two nuclei can coalesce into a single nucleus but the nucleus is the easiest to fuse, and the nucleus that releases the most energy, which has the least electromagnetic repulsion. This is because they have a very small electric charge.

Most of the fusion that occurs inside stars is the fusing of hydrogen with itself or more light elements.

Gravity provides the pressure needed to initiate nuclear fusion in stars and, since gravity is caused by mass, all it takes is a mass of hydrogen large enough to ignite a burning star.

Although stars do not use oxygen to burn, there is a very small amount in them but this is created by hydrogen repeatedly combining until the formation of oxygen occurs.

The importance of gravity

Gravity is very important in star fusion. Bigger stars have more mass, so the gravitational force acting inside the star is much stronger.

This inward gravity causes enormous pressure within the stars and the greater the mass of a star, the greater the effect on gravity and pressure, resulting in more nuclear fusion.

In short

Stars don't need oxygen to burn and, although there may be a small amount of residue left over from the fusion of hydrogen atoms, stars don't have oxygen to burn especially that used in nuclear fusion.

Instead of using carbon-based combustion, stars use nuclear fusion, and therefore, no oxygen is used in the combustion process.