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My current fun internet science quest it reading papers about how much iron is in the sun, or perhaps better said as how big is the iron core in the sun. this
by somat 4y ago
My current fun internet science quest it reading papers about how much iron is in the sun, or perhaps better said as how big is the iron core in the sun.
this has been especially fun because the answers ranges from fractional percentages to most of it.
The most of it theory says that the sun is a stellar remnant, but I think fusion would suffer if that were the case.
The fractional percentage theory is based off of the observed spectra of the sun.
The sizable iron core theory is based off of the observed atomic composition of the inner solar system. there are also missing neutrino observations that support this theory, that is, there are not enough observed neutrinos that match a hydrogen core but do match an iron core.
Like I said a fun subject, I love it when an innocent question "How much iron is in the sun?" leads to such wildly different theories.
- djmips 4y agoWait.. what? Stellar remnant? I've never heard any talk at all that our sun is that far along in it's stellar evolution. Is that legitimate or some whacky stuff.
- saalweachter 4y agoIt is hard to tell until you read enough literature! That is the tricky part about following science as a layperson; a bad sample can give you a distorted view, leaving you thinking a fringe view not supported by the data is plausible or correct.
- somat 4y agoIt is a crank theory, untrue, but it goes. What happened to the core of whatever star exploded to form the gas cloud that formed the solar system, why would that core not be the gravitational locus of the new star.
- mr_toad 4y agoSupernovae spread mass over hundreds of light years. And then things start drifting apart. Whatever exploded to leave behind the mass that created the Earth and the Sun could be thousands of light years away.
- HyperSane 4y agoI don't know what you are reading but the sun is absolutely not a stellar remnant. It really should not have much iron in it as it is still happily fusing hydrogen. Stars don't create iron until they run out of hydrogen. EDIT: After googling I found an article about this crank Dr. Oliver Manuel. I hope you aren't getting ideas from him. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/epa-heartland-institute_n_59f3486be4b07fdc5fbdc13a https://www.huffpost.com/entry/epa-heartland-institute_n_59f...
- djmips 4y agoDoes seem pretty whacky. But I'm quite ignorant in this area - it is interesting that all the heavy elements in the earth we are told come from a super novae. What is the traditional theory for how the planets of our solar system, orbiting around a hypothesized second generation star came to be endowed with those elements? The idea that we are literally formed directly from the remnants of a supernovae is alluring even if I have no formal training in the field.
- HyperSane 4y ago"it is interesting that all the heavy elements in the earth we are told come from a super novae" The origin of heavy elements is actually more complex than that. All of the hydrogen and most of the helium in the universe emerged 13.8 billion years ago from the Big Bang. The remainder of the chemical elements, except for a tiny amount of lithium, were forged in stellar interiors, supernova explosions, and neutron-star mergers. Elements up to and including iron are made in the hot cores of short-lived massive stars. There, nuclear fusion creates ever-heavier elements as it powers the star and causes it to shine. Elements heavier than iron—the majority of the periodic table—are primarily made in environments with free-neutron densities in excess of a million particles per cubic centimeter. The free neutrons, if captured onto a seed nucleus, result in a heavier, radioactive nucleus that subsequently decays into a stable heavy species. The so-called slow neutron-capture process, or s-process, mostly occurs during the late stages in the evolution of stars of 1–10 solar masses (M⊙). But the s-process accounts for the formation of only about half of the isotopes beyond iron. Creating the other half requires a rapid capture sequence, the r-process, and a density of greater than 1020 neutrons/cm3 that can bombard seed nuclei. The requisite neutron fluxes can be provided by supernova explosions (see the article by John Cowan and Friedrich-Karl Thielemann, Physics Today, October 2004, page 47) or by the mergers of binary neutron-star systems.
- pfdietz 4y agoThe Sun doesn't have an iron core. Where did you get this BS?