# Could You Make a Viable Stellar System From Jelly Tots? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 9, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592 "2007-09-09T18:39:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2007, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/21 "2007-09-12T10:02:52Z")
Is anyone else reminded of the game Katamari Damacy? The goal is to roll stuff up (candy, for one) into a giant ball so that your dad, the King of all Cosmos, can make it into stars to hang in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2007, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/22 "2007-09-12T20:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=slortar] You’d also have to worry about the oceans fermenting and turning into alcohol. Although I’m not sure “worry” is the proper word to use here… [/QUOTE] Isn’t that the result of bacteria or whatever eathing the sugar and excreting alcohol? You might get a completely-different waste product, or none at all–the liquid sugar would simply be a neutral medium. (What _would_ the oceans be made of? Nothing too viscous, I hope; that might make them more like magma.) ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/23 "2007-09-13T13:17:06Z")
[QUOTE=sturmhauke] Is anyone else reminded of the game Katamari Damacy? The goal is to roll stuff up (candy, for one) into a giant ball so that your dad, the King of all Cosmos, can make it into stars to hang in the sky. [/QUOTE] The theme song is already starting to play in my head… I loved that game for the sheer crackery, but I couldn’t stand the controls. I had this morbid fascination with rolling up people, just to hear them scream. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/24 "2007-09-13T14:30:51Z")
What if you were to include the packaging the jelly tots came in? Although relatively small in proportion to the mass of the jelly tots themselves, it would alter the chemical structure enough to make things interesting, would it not? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/25 "2007-09-13T14:48:27Z")
It’s been a while since I did any reading in this area, but aren’t most stars second generation? I seem to recall that we get most of our heavy/radioactive elements from supernovas. So if you can get your Jelly Tot sun to fuse for a few million years before it goes nova and you’ve got a healthy collection of computer games so that you can play minesweeper and solitaire for another billion years or so while the ejected matter cools and coaleses, you might just end up with one sweet solar system. One in which it would be very, very interesting to observe the reactions of the inhabitants once they developed space travel and ventured out to their version of the Kuiper belt and found primordial Jelly Tot asteroids. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/26 "2007-09-13T15:22:31Z")
[QUOTE=Mindfield] What if you were to include the packaging the jelly tots came in? Although relatively small in proportion to the mass of the jelly tots themselves, it would alter the chemical structure enough to make things interesting, would it not? [/QUOTE] If we’re talking about the temperatures in the interior of a star, all that really matters is the relative proportions of the elements — any molecules are going to be broken apart by the heat. Most plastics are primarily made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, so it’s not going to throw the above conclusions off too much; however, it might introduce small amounts of other elements into the mix depending on the type of wrapping used. I don’t know enough about food packaging technology to say how likely this is, though. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/27 "2007-09-13T20:14:18Z")
[QUOTE=Triskadecamus] Not sure what the syrup oceans would be like. [/QUOTE] They’d be like God damn delicious! ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592/28 "2007-09-13T20:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Isn’t that the result of bacteria or whatever eathing the sugar and excreting alcohol? You might get a completely-different waste product, or none at all–the liquid sugar would simply be a neutral medium. (What _would_ the oceans be made of? Nothing too viscous, I hope; that might make them more like magma.) [/QUOTE] Pshaw. You and your common sense. In **my** jelly tot fantasy world the seas run with brandy and it rains fine whiskey. And Jennifer Connelly is my wife. And I have laser gun arms and can fly. What was I talking about again? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-make-a-viable-stellar-system-from-jelly-tots/418592.md?page=1)