HowStuffWorks "How the Sun Works"

[http://www.howstuffworks.com/] SUBSCRIBE Adventure Animals Auto Culture Entertainment Health Home & Garden Lifestyle Money Science Tech Video Shows Quizzes Engineering Environmental Science Forces of Nature Innovation Life Science Military Physical Science Dictionary Science Vs. Myth Space Transportation Home / Science / Space / Astronomy / The Solar System More Stuff Like This 10 Scientific Words You're Probably Using Wrong 10 False Science Facts Everyone Knows Puzzle: Nerve Cell How the Sun Works by Julia Layton and Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. Page 1 Introduction to How the Sun Works 2 The Parts of the Sun 3 The Sun's Interior: Core 4 The Sun's Interior: Radiative and Convective Zones Sunspot Image Gallery Sunspot Image Gallery The sun warms our planet, provides us with light and is crucial to all life on Earth. See more sunspot pictures . Photo courtesy of NASA Up Next Solar Cell Quiz How Solar Eclipses Work How Sunspots Work When’s the last time you gazed upward and marveled at the mysterious, life-giving force that is the sun? If you believe the whole staring-at-the-sun-makes-you-go-blind thing (which is actually true), you’re probably not doing a whole lot of sun-gazing. But it’s a real marvel: The sun warms our planet every day, provides the light by which we see and is necessary for life on Earth . It can also cause cell death and make us blind. It could fit 1.3 million Earths inside its sphere [source: SpaceDaily ]. It produces poem-worthy sunsets and as much energy as 1 trillion megaton bombs every second [source: Boston Globe ]. All of this, and our sun is just a plain old average star , by universal standards. It’s really just proximity that makes it so special to Earth. We wouldn’t be here if the sun weren’t so close. So, how close is the sun? And how much space does it take to hold 1.3 million Earths? And while we’re at it: If the sun is in the vacuum of space, how does it burn? What keeps all that gas from leaking into space? Why does the sun send out solar flares? Will the sun ever stop burning? (And if so, when? And what will happen to Earth and its inhabitants?) In this article, we'll examine the fascinating world of our nearest star. We will look at the parts of the sun, find out how it makes light and heat, and explore its major features. The sun has "burned" for more than 4.5 billion years. It's a massive collection of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium. Because it is so massive, it has immense gravity, enough gravitational force to hold all of that hydrogen and helium together (and to hold all of the planets in their orbits around the sun). We say the sun burns, but it doesn’t burn like wood burns. Instead, the sun is a gigantic nuclear reactor. Print Cite This! Close Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks article: Layton, Julia, and Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D.. "How the Sun Works" 17 October 2000. HowStuffWorks.com. 14 August 2014. Citation & Date Feedback Page 1 Introduction to How the Sun Works 2 The Parts of the Sun 3 The Sun's Interior: Core 4 The Sun's Interior: Radiative and Convective Zones 5 The Sun's Atmosphere 6 The Sun's Features: Sunspots, Solar Prominences and Solar Flares 7 The Fate of the Sun 8 Lots More Information More To Explore All Things Science 10 Incredible Wind Power Facts 10 Remarkable Exoplanets Fact or Fiction: Earthquakes Top 10 Things That Women Invented Strange, Spooky, Scary: The Supernatural Quiz Watch 100 Greatest Discoveries videos » You Might Also Like How the Moon Works The moon is often the largest object in the sky outside of the sun. What is the moon made of, how did it form -- and why do people blame it for their strange behavior? 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