Freaky Fzx Friday - Solar Element Generators

Our Freaky Universe so far:

• Birth of the Universe during birth week.
• Brief break to give thanks to God for the universe.
• The ensuing Expansion of the Universe last week.

After a few hundred thousand years, the universe had expanded and cooled enough that the gravitational force between all objects with mass started pulling the protons together to begin the formation of nebulae and galaxies and stars.  Try reading that in one breath.

A big ball of protons (with electrons) pulled each other together and compressed under their mutual gravitational force to form the first star.  As they were compressed, the temperature increased to millions of degrees Celsius and the protons moved faster and faster.  

So is the sun just a big ball of fire?

No.  Not a ball of fire.  This is not what's happening.

That's gasoline burning in your car - NOT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SUN

NUCLEAR fusion is the process that gives the sun its heat.  Chemistry is all about the electrons on the outside of atoms being stripped and added and shared.  Nuclear Science is all about what happens to nuclei.  And in nuclei.  And between nuclei.  Nuclei are smashing together and combining every once in a while.

Using Einstein's famousest equation, EequalsMCsquared, we know that matter can be converted to energy and that's what's happening in stars.  The entire periodic table of elements past #1 is created in stars.

Our sun is a giant nucleosynthesizer.  It makes the elements by smashing nuclei together until they combine.  And it loses a lot of mass every second as it is converted to energy.  But without quantum physics it wouldn' happen.

So unlike chemistry, nuclear reactions involve the nucleus.  And they involve much more matter converted to energy.  And they make new nuclei but only up to iron.  

Above number 26 we rely on another solar process.  Next week - monstrous explosions.