Question

Solar energy is due to

• A. fusion reaction
• B. fission reaction
• C. combustion reaction
• D. chemical reaction

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

fusion reaction

Answer 2

Solar energy is due to the Fusion reaction.

The Sun is a ball of gas, just like other stars. In terms of atoms, it is made up of 91.0 percent hydrogen and 8.9 percent helium. The Sun is composed of around 70.6% hydrogen and 27.4% helium by mass.

• Fission is the process by which a big, unstable nucleus splits into two smaller, more stable nuclei, while fusion is the process by which two small, stable nuclei combine to release a significant amount of energy.
• In the process of nuclear fusion, two or more atomic nuclei combine to form one or more new atomic nuclei as well as subatomic (neutron or proton) particles.
• Nuclear processes that produce energy include both fission and fusion.
• When protons of hydrogen atoms hit forcefully in the sun's core, they fuse to generate helium. This process is known as fusion.
• Although fission-generated energy is not equivalent to fusion-generated energy, hydrogen is consumed in the sun's core at temperatures that allow for hydrogen fusion, making fusion the dominant source of energy per cubic meter rather than the fission of radioisotopes with very low abundances.
• As long as the temperatures and densities are high enough to trigger fusion, fission is not a significant energy source.
• The inference is that nuclear fusion that occurs in the sun is what produces solar energy.

Discover more from this chapter:Nuclei