• Question: how is the sun fire but planets are not

    Asked by Foxy Bubu to Ross, Robert, Aimee on 17 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Robert Lees

      Robert Lees answered on 17 Nov 2015:


      The sun is the result of a lot of pressure and heat, making nuclear fusion occur, this produces an incredible amount of energy (useful for us to understand, so we can get lots energy). The sun appears on fire because all of the energy is coming from the centre of the sun and takes thousands of years to reach the surface, along the way it bounces off atoms and finally comes out as (among other things) visible light. It is not on fire though, there is no oxygen for fire in space.

      The planets are not hot enough or massive enough to do nuclear fusion, so they do not appear to be on fire!

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