Don't know if anyone is interested, but I thought the video was particularly cool: http://space.newscientist.com/articl...n-the-sun.html
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Don't know if anyone is interested, but I thought the video was particularly cool: http://space.newscientist.com/articl...n-the-sun.html
..also interesting :)
interesting thanks.
Now I'm wondering whether those thingies turning back on the sun mean that it's not going to burn out as fast as it should if they'd gone straight out, or if the recycled energy keeps the Helium -> Hydrogen-reaction going faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by popopot
Still pondering this.Quote:
Originally Posted by SneeNow I'm wondering whether those thingies turning back on the sun mean that it's not going to burn out as fast as it should if they'd gone straight out, or if the recycled energy keeps the Helium -> Hydrogen-reaction going faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by popopot
I guess the sun might act like a big heat-battery, in addition to a fusion plant.
I think the sun is using up its fuel (hydrogen) as fast as ever in the fusion reactions that creates helium (http://science.howstuffworks.com/sun2.htm), a reaction so fierce that nothing should be able to stop the plumes from leaving the suns surface. However, it appears that the magnetic fields of the sun are so strong that they can cause the plumes to return back to the sun, but I don't think that the energy is recycled to fuel more reactions. Its just a consequence of the 'impossibly' strong magnetic fields of the sun.Quote:
Originally Posted by SneeStill pondering this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Snee
I guess the sun might act like a big heat-battery, in addition to a fusion plant.
Ah, I meant that, since the plumes return, some of the energy and matter that was previously supposed to be radiating outward has now been proven to be returned or recycled.
Hence, the sun isn't losing mass or energy the way I thought it was.
By losing matter the reaction would have been slowing down (since the fusion is mass-dependent), allowing for a longer burn, but on the other hand, heat, and thus energy is being returned too, which may negate or override the fact that the returning matter keeps the reaction going stronger.
That's my take on it, anyway.
I worded my previous posts poorly, in hindsight, sorry about that.
I should say that I like this thread too, btw.
It made me think for a bit, and about something I'm interested in, at that, which is nice.
Kudos.
Well my opinion is that of a biochemist and I am just bluffing my way through the physics.
Glad you like the thread.