• Question: what is the sun made out of

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      Asked by 443merf23 to Angus on 16 Jun 2016.
      • Photo: Angus Cook

        Angus Cook answered on 16 Jun 2016:

        It’s mostly made up of the element hydrogen, with about 10% helium. Because there’s so much mass to the Sun it’s strong gravity forces hydrogen atoms together. This turns them into helium, and releases lots of energy. This is why the Sun is hot and bright, because of all the energy being produced by this reaction (we call it a ‘nuclear fusion reaction’).

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