solar core (Q619448)

The majority of the Sun's volume is composed of the radiative zone, where temperatures increase from the thousands into the millions of K. At some critical location, temperatures rise past a threshold of around 4 million K, which is the energy threshold necessary for nuclear fusion to begin. As you go closer towards the center, the temperature rises and rises, to a peak of 15 million K in the very center. This is the hottest temperature achieved in a star like our Sun. (English)

product or material produced

helium

1 reference

reference URL

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/images/u2/Chapter_2_mod2-FINAL.pdf

archive URL

https://web.archive.org/web/20250727183801/https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/images/u2/Chapter_2_mod2-FINAL.pdf

quotation

The nuclear fusion, now occurring in the core of the Sun, turns hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei. In fact, that is how the elements heavier than hydrogen are made; the thermonuclear fusion at the core of stars can produce the first 26 elements, up to iron. The Sun, because of its relatively small mass, will go through only the first two stages of fusion,the hydrogen-helium stage and the helium-carbon stage (English)

Commons category

Sun

0 references