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I was once at a tech conference for high schoolers in London where one of the distinguished speakers (others included Vint Cerf, and a UK government minister) t
by gorgoiler 7y ago
I was once at a tech conference for high schoolers in London where one of the distinguished speakers (others included Vint Cerf, and a UK government minister) told us that the primary reason the sun is hot was because it was still glowing with heat from the pressure of gravitational collapse.
I think their claim was that the nuclear reactions in the sun contributed to the Sun’s radiation, but did not contribute to the bulk of the Sun’s temperature (heat?)
I’m a little fuzzy, but I’ve never seen this claim elsewhere. Is it true?
- wwwater 7y agoA star like Sun is in a state of an equilibrium between gravitational forces that want to collapse the star and the fusion energy. Gravitational pressure helps atoms to collide and fusion takes place. But it doesn't sound right to say that the heat is from the pressure. Once the fusion energy isn't enough to counteract the gravity, the star collapses into a white dwarf (or a super-nova later). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_sequence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_sequence
- rsynnott 7y agoNot true. Something like that is why gas giants are hotter than you'd naively expect, though.