Mondo Knows Facts
The Sun core converts 600 million tonnes of hydrogen every second
Thermonuclear fusion transforms hydrogen nuclei into helium and energy
Inside the Sun's core, where temperatures reach 15 million degrees Celsius and pressures exceed 250 billion atmospheres, hydrogen nuclei fuse into helium. Every single second, the solar core fuses 600 million tonnes of hydrogen into 596 million tonnes of helium, converting four million tonnes of mass into pure energy.
Where this comes from
Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
Go further
More facts like this
Brown dwarfs are failed stars that cannot sustain core nuclear fusionSubstellar objects bridge the evolutionary gap between giant gas planets and starsThe Sun holds nearly all the mass in the solar systemOver 99 percent of all matter in the solar system resides inside the SunA single solar flare releases millions of hydrogen bombs worth of energyMagnetic field reconnection on the Sun releases huge bursts of radiationThe Parker Solar Probe is the fastest human-made object ever builtSpeeds exceeding 600,000 kilometres per hour carry the probe near the SunTotal solar eclipses are possible due to a cosmic geometric coincidenceThe Sun is 400 times wider than the Moon but also 400 times further awayThe Sun outer corona is hundreds of times hotter than its surfaceWhile the solar surface sits at 5,500 degrees C the corona reaches millions
Tags: sun, fusion, core
The Sun core converts 600 million tonnes of hydrogen every second: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Thermonuclear fusion transforms hydrogen nuclei into helium and energy. The figure is taken from NASA Science, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a space fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Space shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.