If The Sun Turned Completely To Water, Would It Freeze Or Boil?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion explores a hypothetical scenario in which the Sun transforms entirely into water, examining whether it would freeze due to temperature or boil due to pressure. Participants consider various factors that could influence the outcome, including the Sun's size, the presence of a planetary system, and the effects of gravitational collapse.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that if the Sun were to turn into water, the outer layers might freeze due to the extreme temperatures of outer space, while the inner layers could remain liquid.
  • Others argue that the conditions necessary for water to exist in the Sun are not feasible, as the temperatures are too high for any compounds to form, and substances would exist in plasma form rather than as molecules.
  • One participant suggests that the gravitational collapse of the Sun could generate enough heat to keep the water in a liquid state, despite the cold of space.
  • Another viewpoint emphasizes that the fusion processes in stars do not allow for the formation of water, as hydrogen nuclei fuse to create helium, and the presence of oxygen would occur only after most hydrogen is depleted.
  • Some participants question the validity of the hypothetical scenario, stating that it is physically impossible for the Sun to randomly turn into water.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus, as multiple competing views remain regarding the feasibility of the scenario and the implications of such a transformation. There is disagreement on the conditions under which water could exist in the Sun.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the assumptions made about the Sun's transformation, the neglect of various astrophysical factors, and the speculative nature of the discussion. The discussion also highlights the complexity of stellar fusion processes and their implications for the existence of compounds.

Bawhoppen
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Lets say all the helium in the sun fused to make oxygen, if that and the hydrogen combined to make water, even though it doesn't work out perfectly, let's say it did, and the sun turned completely to water, would it freeze because of temperature cause it to freeze, or the pressure cause it to boil?
 
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I put this in the wrong spot didn't I?
 
Nope I guess this is right spot
 
please answer
 
You need to add in several factors here my friend! Factors such as;

Does this star have a planet system?
How big of a star are we talking?
Are tidal forces at play?

But let's put those factors aside for while. I'm assuming this star doesn't have a planet system. So yes in the strange scenario, I suppose the outer layers would most likely freeze over due to the phenomenal outside temperatures of outer space. But most likely the inner layers would still stay liquid.

bawhoppen said:
Lets say all the helium in the sun fused to make oxygen, if that and the hydrogen combined to make water, even though it doesn't work out perfectly, let's say it did, and the sun turned completely to water, would it freeze because of temperature cause it to freeze, or the pressure cause it to boil?

Depending upon the size of your star and mass, I suppose the inner layers would become some form of metallic liquid. I could imagine.

In fact, The star would probably never ever produce any form of H2O as hydrogen nuclei fuse with each other to produce Helium. As this hydrogen is depleted, The star creates another denser layer on the inside and pushes out the hydrogen fusing layer. So now the star is fusing heavier nuclei together and so the process goes on.

Hope I helped some how, If I am wrong in anything i stated please do feel free to correct me. :)
-.euphoria
 
Last edited:
I can't provide specific time-lines, but I rather suspect that there wouldn't be much hydrogen left in the area by the time oxygen shows up. Stars don't fuse everything at once. When the initial hydrogen-to-helium2 tapers off, the radiation pressure can't maintain itself against gravity, and the star collapses a bit. That compression allows the helium2 and remaining hydrogen to combine into helium3. The next stage is lithium, then carbon (beryllium and boron are in there too, but not really important). After carbon comes oxygen, by which time pretty much all of the hydrogen is gone. Remember also that at stellar temperatures the substances are in plasma form rather than gaseous, so molecular bonding can't occur. Fusion is the only way that atoms can combine, since all of the electrons are stripped off and flying around loose.
 
Based on my opinion, I think the sun will boil due to the process of nuclear fusion that happens naturally in the Earth's core. The water or oxygen nuclei will smash at each other because of the strong gravity pull of the Sun's core. The energy and heat given off by this process makes the Sun's temperature to about 600'000 degree Celsius. If the Sun really did turned to water, all we'll see is just lot's of steam...
 
Even when the Sun does end up converting helium to oxygen there won't be any water in the Sun. The temperatures in the Sun are far too high for any compounds to exist. The temperatures are even too high for neutral atoms to exist. The core of the Sun comprises atomic nuclei and free electrons that are completely dissociated from those nuclei.
 
All the restrictions aside what would happen like let's say someone put oxygen in when there was still a lot of hydrogen
 
  • #10
.euphoria said:
You need to add in several factors here my friend! Factors such as;

Does this star have a planet system?
How big of a star are we talking?
Are tidal forces at play?

But let's put those factors aside for while. I'm assuming this star doesn't have a planet system. So yes in the strange scenario, I suppose the outer layers would most likely freeze over due to the phenomenal outside temperatures of outer space. But most likely the inner layers would still stay liquid.



Depending upon the size of your star and mass, I suppose the inner layers would become some form of metallic liquid. I could imagine.

In fact, The star would probably never ever produce any form of H2O as hydrogen nuclei fuse with each other to produce Helium. As this hydrogen is depleted, The star creates another denser layer on the inside and pushes out the hydrogen fusing layer. So now the star is fusing heavier nuclei together and so the process goes on.

Hope I helped some how, If I am wrong in anything i stated please do feel free to correct me. :)
-.euphoria

this is our sun
 
  • #11
Danger said:
I can't provide specific time-lines, but I rather suspect that there wouldn't be much hydrogen left in the area by the time oxygen shows up. Stars don't fuse everything at once. When the initial hydrogen-to-helium2 tapers off, the radiation pressure can't maintain itself against gravity, and the star collapses a bit. That compression allows the helium2 and remaining hydrogen to combine into helium3. The next stage is lithium, then carbon (beryllium and boron are in there too, but not really important). After carbon comes oxygen, by which time pretty much all of the hydrogen is gone. Remember also that at stellar temperatures the substances are in plasma form rather than gaseous, so molecular bonding can't occur. Fusion is the only way that atoms can combine, since all of the electrons are stripped off and flying around loose.

Lets Say It Just Randomly Turns Into Water, What Would Happen?
 
  • #12
Bawhoppen said:
Lets Say It Just Randomly Turns Into Water, What Would Happen?

You can't just randomly say that. It's physically impossible, so what's the point of fantasizing?
Mortalitis, where did you ever get the idea that fusion occurs in Earth's core? The Earth's internal temperature comes from the decay of radioisotopes. Jupiter is the closest thing to a protostar that we have, and even its humongous gravity isn't enough to initiate fusion.
I seriously recommend that you abandon whatever source you have been receiving your science education from and hang out here a lot more.
 
  • #13
Bawhoppen said:
Lets Say It Just Randomly Turns Into Water, What Would Happen?
Let's say it magically turned into unicorns, what would happen?

You are asking a question that is just as ludicrous as unicorns.
 
  • #14
How about: "What would happen to 1.98892×10^30 kg of water floating in space?"
 
  • #15
The middle would get quite hot just from the energy of gravitational collapse, probably enough to keep the surface liquid.
Although space is cold water has a large heat capacity so it would take a lot to freeze it, even with the low vapour pressure of a vacuum it would take a long time to evaporate.

The gas giants, or at least jupiter, has a significant heat output just from the gravitational energy of it's own mass.
 
  • #16
NobodySpecial said:
The middle would get quite hot just from the energy of gravitational collapse, probably enough to keep the surface liquid.
Although space is cold water has a large heat capacity so it would take a lot to freeze it, even with the low vapour pressure of a vacuum it would take a long time to evaporate.

The gas giants, or at least jupiter, has a significant heat output just from the gravitational energy of it's own mass.

Even if you start with all the water liquid and at room temperature, there's plenty of
energy from gravitational collapse to start fusion again, since 2/3 of the atoms are
hydrogen.
If the sun was cold it would only be in equilibrium if it was of white dwarf size, so there's
plenty of gravitational energy left to heat it up again.
 
  • #17
Danger said:
You can't just randomly say that. It's physically impossible, so what's the point of fantasizing?
Mortalitis, where did you ever get the idea that fusion occurs in Earth's core? The Earth's internal temperature comes from the decay of radioisotopes. Jupiter is the closest thing to a protostar that we have, and even its humongous gravity isn't enough to initiate fusion.
I seriously recommend that you abandon whatever source you have been receiving your science education from and hang out here a lot more.

OOPS SORRY! What i meant to say was that it happen naturally in the Sun's core, not the Earth. Typo error, sorry. So embarrassing, makes me look retarded...
 

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