The SUN IS A NEUTRON FACTORY! (a **TWO STAR discussion** can you learn this with no pictures?)

The Sun is NOT an "average star", it is slightly larger than average and has no companion (in fact most stars are in pairs (or more) and majority are smaller and cooler, ex. brown dwarfs are most numerous...) The Sun is fusing Helium-3 to Helium-4 (and freeing two protons). Helium-4 is the stable alpha particle that is most often associated with being "helium". Eventually the sun will fuse 3 alpha particles into a carbon-12 atom when it become a red giant and the core rises from ~15 million degrees to ~100 million degrees. (Temperature in always kelvins since an extra or less 273 degrees Celsius doesn't matter at these temperatures, and Farenheit shouldn't be used at all!)

It seems misleading for astronomy books to simply say,"... the sun fuses hydrogen to helium...". Fusing implies pushing together and that would make a two proton entity (but THERE IS NO two proton helium -without at least one neutron, and the sun doesn't have a neutron to push into a proton, SO THE SUN MAKES A PROTON INTO A NEUTRON!!!! {called the heavy hydrogen, DEUTERON}. So again, hydrogen fusion in the sun actually creates a new particle {it's interesting that a neutron would decay back to a proton, (and electron and it's anti-neutrino) if it weren't bound to the proton}.

So the real building block of elements in stars is the deuteron (or deuterium)! The deuteron gets fused with another proton almost immediately (since there are so many hydrogen protons around in the core of the sun). To make this new helium-3 into the more stable helium-4 alpha particle would require another neutron (there is a nuclear "brick wall" here that He-3 won't take another proton and be stable, just like the helium-4 won't take another proton either, it will take the star through a cycle of using all the protons to become rich in the alpha helium-4, and then by gravity contracting to increase the star's core to the 100 million kelvins to fuse THREE ALPHA PARTICLES- the brick wall is that helium plus another proton or another helium is not stable {nuclear numbers 5 and 8 are no-no's!).

So for two helium-3 atoms to fuse (and release two free protons), it takes, statistically a long time for them to find each other. There is a gamma ray liberated from this helium-3 fusing reaction (some report 80% of the heat energy coming to us from the sun is from this final nuclear reaction known in the proton-proton chain).

If this is true, the gamma rays would be losing energy from many collisions finding their way out from the core. The light radiating from the sun originated as gamma rays also, but from a different reaction thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years before outside the inner core of the sun! Recalling the first two protons coming together (fusing) in the proton-proton chain, in order for the proton to become a neutron it will emit a positive electron (and it's anti-neutrino which is a "non anti particle neutrino", if that sounds confusing, you're not alone, and it's not important here!) Well in the core where these fusion reactions happen at 15 million degrees there are no electrons bound or otherwise. As this positron (e+, electron's anti-particle) finds it's way out of the core it eventually finds an electron and will annihilate with it to become pure energy in the form of two gamma rays which then have to collide their way out to the surface like a pinball which loses a little bit of energy in every collision (for 100,000 years!). thus at the photoshere those gamma rays have become just the right energy to be set free as the visible light that reaches our eyes. ( I find that fascinating that the light reaching our eyes is from the first reaction of the protons fusing to make a neutron, thus the sun is NEUTRON FACTORY!!!!!!)

This is why learning the first "fusion' reaction is so important to understanding the rest of the nuclear reactions making the elements in stars.

Almost all of the 92 different what are called 'naturally occurring elements' have been seen spectroscopically in the sun! (there are really a few elements that aren't even naturally occurring on earth since they may be decayed from another element (Po, or At) and then decay further...

Solar winds contain may things, mostly protons (p+) and electrons (e-)! The Earth has two shells (one of p+ and one of e-) that protect us from the solar wind, etc. It is easiest to remember the earth resembling a giant atom since the proton belt in closer to earth than the e- belt which is much larger and further away (forming the outer {Van Allen Radiation} belt).

If a neutron has more mass than a proton, and the sun is fusing protons...??????Did you know that if a neutron isn't 'bound' to a proton it will decay in a bout 12-20 minutes here on earth????????

WHERE DOES THIS EXTRA MASS COME FROM WHEN MAKING NEUTRONS since a neutron weighs more than a proton right?!

IT'S FROM THE ENERGY IT TAKES TO FUSE OR PUSH THE PROTONS TOGETHER...That is, a proton bound to a neutron in a deuteron weighs less than a proton and a neutron by themselves (sometimes called the 'mass defect', or 'binding energy', etc.)

OTHER FUN SUN STUFF........iron atoms commonly have 10 or 12 e-'s ionized off ( 22, 23, even all 26 e-s!!!!)