How the Sun makes its light
In short: Fusion in the Sun's core turns hydrogen into helium; the energy escapes as sunlight.
1. The Sun's core is heated by nuclear fusion reactions. 2. In the core, fusion turns hydrogen into helium. 3. Fusion releases energy, which moves out from the core to the surface. 4. The Sun radiates the energy from its surface, mainly as light. 5. Sunlight takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth.
Sources: Wikipedia, “Proton%E2%80%93proton chain (Wikipedia)” (CC BY-SA 4.0); Wikipedia, “Sun (Wikipedia)” (CC BY-SA 4.0). Illustrative, not to scale.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Wikipedia — Proton–proton chain
- Also: Sun
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