Unraveling the Mystery of the Sun's Composition and the Fate of Matter Within

[moejoe15]

What happens to regular matter that falls into a sun?

Why is the sun made up primarily of light elements and the rest of the solar system isn't when a solar system evolves? (maybe with the gas giants it is but why isn't there a lot of heavy elements in the sun)

 

[Nabeshin]

Why is the sun made up primarily of light elements and the rest of the solar system isn't when a solar system evolves? (maybe with the gas giants it is but why isn't there a lot of heavy elements in the sun)

The answer is that there's simply more light elements available in the universe. Since the universe is ~24% He and 75% H, you only get 1% left over for all the other elements! Now, it might seem like the sun has far fewer heavy elements than say Earth, but that's not true. Earth merely has a higher proportion of heavy element,s since it doesn't have any of the light gasses (H,He). Of course the reason the Earth doesn't have H,He is because its gravity is too weak to hold onto these light gasses, and if they ever were present on the planet they've since leaked out into space. The sun and gas giants don't have this problem, which is why we see them as primarily gaseous!

 

[Drakkith]

What happens to regular matter that falls into a sun?

It is heated up to high temperatures as it gets closer. If it enters the sun and can fall far enough into it, it will be turned into a plasma state. From there it probably joines the rest of the material in the outer areas of the sun and swirls around in the convection currents. It's possible it could continue to make its way further and further into the sun, but I really don't know.

 

[Dotini]

http://spaceweather.com/swpod2011/06may11/fireball1.jpg?PHPSESSID=q6nndiv1h9ab5dt13qkf1duge1

Here is a rare shot of an Earth-sized spherical blob of detached solar prominence. Would it be possible to estimate the energy contained in it, and to say what happens to it? Must this thing fall back into the sun, or can it do something else?

Respectfully submitted,
Steve

 

[Nik_2213]

IIRC, stuff falls into our sun on a regular basis. SOHO spots many sun-grazer and sun-impactor comets. Given the relative sizes, the impactor is vaporised, ionised and dispersed without a trace. So far, AFAIR, no impactor has triggered any anomalous solar activity, and certainly no 'Jupiter Bruises' per the Shoemaker-Levy-9 event...

Uh, I've read that some stars have odd spectra that have been attributed to them swallowing one or more 'hot jupiters'. They also seem to have higher spin / shorter 'days' than our sun...