Question Video: Recalling the Nuclear Process That Occurs in the Sun Chemistry • First Year of Secondary School

Video Transcript

Fill in the blank. The process by which energy is released from the core of the Sun is known as blank.

The Sun is an enormous sphere of hot plasma. It is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium atoms. The surface temperature of the Sun is about five and a half thousand degrees Celsius, while the core temperature is about 15 million degrees Celsius. The pressure is relatively low at the outer edges of the Sun and incredibly high near or within the core.

The core temperature and pressure are so high in stars like the Sun that atoms undergo nuclear reactions that do not occur naturally in any other part of the solar system. The hydrogen nuclei in the core of the Sun move so fast and at such a high pressure that they collide and form heavier helium nuclei. Scientists call this process nuclear fusion because light nuclei fuse to make a heavier nucleus. We can define nuclear fusion as the formation of one heavier atomic nucleus from the collision and combination of lighter atomic nuclei.

Nuclear fusion happens continuously in the Sun, and the reaction releases large amounts of energy. These nuclear fusion reactions effectively power the Sun and ultimately make it shine and emit electromagnetic radiation that moves throughout the solar system. So nuclear fusion is the process that occurs within the core of the Sun that releases energy. Therefore, we should fill in the blank with “nuclear fusion.”