# Destroy the Sun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991 "2003-04-21T07:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@TJ555\_The\_Golfer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJ555_The_Golfer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/1 "2003-04-21T07:08:00Z")
I have an idea, why don’t we destroy the Sun? We could just use electricity. And this will also help the economy with more jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Quasar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/2 "2003-04-21T07:30:50Z")
Well, you can’t argue with that. Where do I sign up? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/3 "2003-04-21T07:47:48Z")
Or we could just block it out and charge twice as much for electricity. That would be _excellent_. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/4 "2003-04-21T07:57:05Z")
One word. Entropy. ---
**Author:** ![Ego\_Mk2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Ego\_Mk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ego_Mk2)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/5 "2003-04-21T13:42:43Z")
Since the dawn of time man has yearned to destroy the sun! (Thank you C. Montgomery Burns!) ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/6 "2003-04-21T13:55:52Z")
Just wait about 5 billion years and the sun will burn itself out. Only problem is that it will expand into a red giant first and engulf the earth before it does. Bummer! ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/7 "2003-04-21T13:58:30Z")
Please don’t destroy the sun, I don’t want to lose my job. _ **scr4** the Solar Physicist_ ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/8 "2003-04-21T14:03:55Z")
BZ00000? Is that you? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/9 "2003-04-21T14:13:12Z")
So, if we destroyed the sun, then could we harness the energy from the explosion to travel around the Earth fast enough to go back in time? ---
**Author:** ![modro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@modro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/modro)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/10 "2003-04-21T14:34:02Z")
Hmm… Best idea I have heard in a long while. Where do I sign up? I want to be in on this destruction. But how, exactly, does one go about destroying the sun? What ways are there. Will the sun melt down if we enshroud it in reflectors that reflect all of the radiated heat and energy back at the sun, resulting in a catastrophic explosion? Or do we just run a really long fire hose and put it out? Is it plugged in somewhere? Inquiring minds want to know. ---
**Author:** ![g8rguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@g8rguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/g8rguy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/11 "2003-04-21T15:12:42Z")
Well, according to the crazy lady I met on the bus last week, we just cut down all the trees, because the sun needs oxygen to survive and the trees make oxygen… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/12 "2003-04-21T16:01:11Z")
According to Babylon 5, [spoiler]we do destroy the sun about a million years from now. Kind of a “burn your bridges behind you attitude” as we leave the galaxy. [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/13 "2003-04-21T16:25:55Z")
A million years? Bah! BAH I SAY! I promise you a monkey sapper team on the sun in 2 years! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/14 "2003-04-22T00:56:31Z")
Well, that would certainly extinctionate those mosquitoes… ---
**Author:** ![markdiscordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@markdiscordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdiscordia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/15 "2003-04-22T03:03:08Z")
[http://bastiat.org/en/petition.html](http://bastiat.org/en/petition.html) ---
**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/16 "2003-04-22T04:10:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by modro \* > \*\*Hmm… > > Best idea I have heard in a long while. Where do I sign up? I want to be in on this destruction. > > But how, exactly, does one go about destroying the sun? What ways are there. Will the sun melt down if we enshroud it in reflectors that reflect all of the radiated heat and energy back at the sun, resulting in a catastrophic explosion? Or do we just run a really long fire hose and put it out? > > Is it plugged in somewhere? > > Inquiring minds want to know. \*\* I suppose this would work. If you raised the temperature of the sun high enough, it would evaporate away. Another way would be to haved a white dwarf collide with it. The white dwarf would pass through unscathed, while the shockwave would make most of the sun’s hydrogen fuse in a titanic explolsion. Scientific american recently had an article on just this scenario. ---
**Author:** ![Thaumaturge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@Thaumaturge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thaumaturge)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/17 "2003-04-22T04:12:00Z")
erm. I can’t seem to splel today. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Cooler\_of\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@Cooler\_of\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooler_of_Death)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/18 "2003-04-22T04:28:00Z")
Yes… destroy the sun. What a brilliant idea. I should have thought of that. My very mortal enemy, the sun. The source of heat, the source of life on this planet. Destroyed. The world would then cower in cold darkness before me. All would be set right. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant idea… destroy the sun with a dwarf. I must prepare. I must find the “white dwarf” of whom you speak. He must help me… He will help me! ---
**Author:** ![dimosc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dimosc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dimosc)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/19 "2003-04-22T04:35:47Z")
Yes!!! Throw all the Red Dwarf videos you have on the sun! that should do him 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991/20 "2003-04-22T04:57:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Thaumaturge \* > Another way would be to haved a white dwarf collide with it. The white dwarf would pass through unscathed, while the shockwave would make most of the sun’s hydrogen fuse in a titanic explolsion. Scientific american recently had an article on just this scenario. What on earth are you talking about? A white dwarf is just as much of a ball of plasma as the sun. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/destroy-the-sun/169991.md?page=2)