Why the sun didn't absorb heavy elements from early solar system?

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on why the sun did not absorb heavy elements during the formation of the solar system. It is noted that heavy elements are present in the sun, but lighter elements like hydrogen and helium were lost by the inner planets due to their inability to retain them. The gas and dust that formed the solar system contained various elements, with those near the center forming the sun and the remaining elements forming planets and other bodies. Heavy elements have settled within the sun, leading to a decrease in their concentration in the photosphere over billions of years. The conversation clarifies that while heavy elements exist in the sun, their distribution and the dynamics of solar formation prevented their absorption into the sun.
arman4
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Hi,

ive been studying formation of solar system and couldn't find an
explanation for why the sun didn't absorb heavy elements from
early solar system? why they remained around the sun and formed
planets and not get absorbed to the centre?

thanks in advance
 
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Probably for the same reason the sun does not "absorb" the planets!
 
HallsofIvy said:
Probably for the same reason the sun does not "absorb" the planets!

I dunno... Virtual gnomes don't allow it?

They're too 'heavy'? That's at least part of it, right? Inknowledge me!
 
arman4 said:
Hi,

ive been studying formation of solar system and couldn't find an
explanation for why the sun didn't absorb heavy elements from
early solar system? why they remained around the sun and formed
planets and not get absorbed to the centre?

thanks in advance
There are heavy elements in the sun. The four inner planets lost most of their hydrogen and helium because these elements were too light to hold onto.
 
mathman said:
There are heavy elements in the sun. The four inner planets lost most of their hydrogen and helium because these elements were too light to hold onto.

thanks, that seems correct, but where do these heavy elements reside in the sun?
 
arman4 said:
thanks, that seems correct, but where do these heavy elements reside in the sun?

There are heavy elements throughout the Sun. The photosphere now has about 16% less heavy elements than it did 4 billion years ago, as the heavy elements have settled slightly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Chemical_composition

The gas and dust that formed the solar system had various elements throughout the cloud. During collapse the elements near the center were pulled in and formed the Sun, while the little that remained out of the Sun formed the planets, asteroids, and other small bodies.
 
thank you for your complete answer, that cleared my confusion completely
 
arman4 said:
Hi,

ive been studying formation of solar system and couldn't find an
explanation for why the sun didn't absorb heavy elements from
early solar system? why they remained around the sun and formed
planets and not get absorbed to the centre?

thanks in advance

There are plenty of heavy elements in the sun. It's probably more than on all the planets combined.
 
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