# With a big enough hose and enough water... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432 "2001-11-27T03:00:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/1 "2001-11-27T03:00:00Z")
…“and a place to stand”, can we put out the Sun like a barbecue fire or a burning crap-filled brown paper bag? ---
**Author:** ![Psycho\_Aquarius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@Psycho\_Aquarius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Psycho_Aquarius)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/2 "2001-11-27T03:07:52Z")
I really doubt it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/3 "2001-11-27T03:10:54Z")
Nope. That much water would compress and heat up under its own gravity to the point that the hydrogen (from the water) begins to fuse into helium. You’d just end up with a bigger star than you started out with. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/4 "2001-11-27T04:18:09Z")
**Squink** has done his homework. However, **yojimboguy** better reread the chapter on scale. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/5 "2001-11-27T04:19:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*Nope. That much water would compress and heat up under its own gravity to the point that the hydrogen (from the water) begins to fuse into helium. You’d just end up with a bigger star than you started out with. \*\* All you need is water and open space and you can CREATE a sun? In fact, one will create itself with no further action? Ok, how bout a big enough block of ice, melted at a fast enough rate to supply our hose? How big can an interstellar iceberg get before its structure collapses under it’s weight. Could you put some kind of heat pump in the center to make a propellent? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/6 "2001-11-27T04:36:07Z")
The oxygen is optional. All you need is a solar mass or so of hydrogen and it will contract under it’s own gravity to form a nice little star. When the gravitational compression heats the hydrogen to 30,000,000 degrees or so it begins to fuse into helium. The energy thus released counteracts the gravitational contraction, and blows any remaining nebular gases out of the system. Here’s a nice [picture of a new star](http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010220.html) doing just that. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/7 "2001-11-27T04:37:57Z")
Larger than Jupiter and smaller than our sun would be a rough idea of the size the block of ice should be. ---
**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/8 "2001-11-27T04:50:54Z")
I think it goes without saying, but I’m gonna say it anyway. Combustion and nuclear fusion are very different processes. Water removes one or two elements from the fire triangle (fuel + heat + oxygen), typically heat, but it also can smother a fire. It’s a little harder to stop a nuclear fusion reaction on a stellar scale. (This is what’s known in literary circles as understatement.) ---
**Author:** ![heptapod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@heptapod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heptapod)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/9 "2001-11-27T04:54:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*Nope. That much water would compress and heat up under its own gravity to the point that the hydrogen (from the water) begins to fuse into helium. You’d just end up with a bigger star than you started out with. \*\* So does this mean that my dream of creating an ocean big enough to see if Saturn would float is just a dream and couldn’t be a reality? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2001, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-a-big-enough-hose-and-enough-water/95432/10 "2001-11-27T05:09:25Z")
> [@](#): > > So does this mean that my dream of creating an ocean big enough to see if Saturn would float is just a dream and couldn’t be a reality? You could probably still do it if you used some antigravity generators to keep the ocean from folding up on itself. Or maybe added enough jello to make it thick and rubbery ? 😃