# How does the sun REALLY work **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 19, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247 "2012-10-19T17:10:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/41 "2012-10-20T15:54:44Z")
**How does the sun REALLY work?** It works really, really well. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/42 "2012-10-20T16:17:02Z")
> [@Cmoore](#): > > Thanks for pointing out that thread for me, I’ll read through it in a bit. I can’t see a problem with starting a new one though, you know keep things current, a lot can change in six years and a lot of the links in the thread are defunct. Regarding the sun, very little has changed in six years. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/43 "2012-10-20T17:24:56Z")
Y’know, I was under the impression that nuclear fusion has been [experimentally verified](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Castle_Bravo_Blast.jpg). Any alternative theory would also have to explain why fusion isn’t occurring in the sun’s core, where the pressure should be high enough to initiate fusion. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/44 "2012-10-20T17:33:47Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Y’know, I was under the impression that nuclear fusion has been [experimentally verified](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Castle_Bravo_Blast.jpg). Any alternative theory would also have to explain why fusion isn’t occurring in the sun’s core, where the pressure should be high enough to initiate fusion. Fusion doesn’t actually work. Those H-Bomb tests were filmed in a studio in New Mexico. You wouldn’t believe was a bitch it was to re-dress the set for the moon landings. I admit it’s kind of mean to let the guys who aren’t in on the secret waste their lives slaving over a hot tokamak, but if they’d just pay off those old football bets we’d slip them the word on the Q.T. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/45 "2012-10-20T17:36:29Z")
> [@Cmoore](#): > > I’ll get back to the rest of you tomorrow, got to be up in the morning. X Did you mean to end your post with a kiss? ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/46 "2012-10-20T18:46:42Z")
Gravity. Next silly question. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/47 "2012-10-20T20:00:38Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > You wouldn’t believe was a bitch it was to re-dress the set for the moon landings. “Was” instead of “what” slipped out. Very interesting. Bist Du von Operation Paperclip? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/48 "2012-10-21T00:21:02Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The overthrow was also accompanied by data, evidence, and a coherent theory. This doesn’t seem to have that. Are you _seriously_ telling me it wasn’t just: [QUOTE=rboyle27] Nah. Something about your Phlogiston explanation doesn’t fly with me, **JJBecher** [/quote] on some message board somewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/49 "2012-10-21T00:28:31Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Guys, guys, guys. The proper response to this is never to attack his theory outright nor support the [del]current[/del] contemporary theory. The proper response to these silly ideas is always… “Fucking sunlight, how does it work?”. What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/50 "2012-10-21T00:38:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > That’s from the fusion plant of the Andromedan battle cruiser that’s hiding _inside_ the Sun. INSIDE, I find that hard to believe, behind is much more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/51 "2012-10-21T00:48:10Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > INSIDE, I find that hard to believe, behind is much more likely. They have metaphasic shields! They can hide inside the Sun just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/52 "2012-10-22T15:47:07Z")
As can the OP apparently. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/53 "2012-10-23T18:39:39Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Now you physicists and astronomers understand what it’s like for us biologists every single day. You ivory-tower biologists and your “theories”! The idea that my body is made up of microscopic “cells” is ludicrous. If that were true, there would be no way I could stand up! ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/54 "2012-10-23T18:56:12Z")
> [@Cmoore](#): > > @ CJJ, I don’t really know what that’s supposed to mean, can you simplify it? I thought I did, but here goes again: 1. If the Sun is drawing energy electrically, it must be producing a flow of charged particles–i.e. an electric current–into it (in the equatorial plane of the Sun, according to the theory) and out of it (along the poles, again according to the theory). 2. An estimate of the amount of energy produced by the Sun allows one to estimate how great this electric current should be. A little more math allows one to estimate how much of this current is passing in the vicinity of the Earth. 3. Electric currents produce magnetic fields, so one can estimate the magnitude of the magnetic field one should measure near the Earth if this current were actually there. The estimate is extremely high–a billion times higher than the magnetic field observed from the solar wind. The fact that this large magnetic field has not been observed is a serious (and IMO fatal) defect in the theory. 4. Further evidence against the theory are the readings taken by the Ulysses space probe, which failed to detect any substantial magnetic field over the poles of the Sun. Again, if there were indeed an electric current shooting out of the poles to complete the circuit that powers the Sun, one would expect to find a substantial magnetic field there. ---
**Author:** ![Deegeea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Deegeea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deegeea)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247/55 "2012-10-23T19:04:18Z")
Not even mentioned is the material evidence for stellar fusion, the various elements that exist that were created by the complicated solar fusion reaction (fascinated by it, I read up on it 20 some years ago, so only vaguely recalled, and maybe new wrinkles have come out since then, but the “solar phoenix” reaction was a lot more complicated than hydrogen 2 fusing into helium 4 - it involved hydrogen 1 fusing into intermediate stages of several of the larger elements). I mean, would we have all this oxygen we’re breathing if the sun were electric? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-the-sun-really-work/638247.md?page=2)