What would happen if the core of the sun were removed?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on a hypothetical scenario where the core of the Sun is removed by a "Maxwell's demon." Participants conclude that the core would rapidly expand due to a sudden decrease in pressure, potentially leading to its disintegration. The outer layers of the Sun would collapse towards the center, releasing gravitational potential energy as heat. Ultimately, this scenario would result in a significantly less massive and dimmer Sun, although the discussion emphasizes that such an event is impossible and purely theoretical.

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  • Understanding of stellar structure and dynamics
  • Familiarity with gravitational potential energy concepts
  • Knowledge of thermodynamics related to pressure and expansion
  • Basic principles of astrophysics and solar phenomena
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  • Study the effects of pressure changes in astrophysical contexts
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Astronomy enthusiasts, astrophysicists, and students interested in stellar dynamics and theoretical physics will benefit from this discussion.

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If a (maxwells) demon were to snatch the core from the sun, what would the result be? would the remaining outer layers coalesce into a red dwarf and just continue on without much fuss? Would the core, removed from the sun, undramatically just expand out to become a red dwarf also? Just a silly thought experiment that would ignore the consequences to the rest of the solar system and the impossibility of this ever actually happening, but I figured I need someone with some real skills to help here.
If a (maxwells) demon were to snatch the core from the sun, what would the result be? would the remaining outer layers coalesce into a red dwarf and just continue on without much fuss? Would the core, removed from the sun, undramatically just expand out to become a red dwarf also? Just a silly thought experiment that would ignore the consequences to the rest of the solar system and the impossibility of this ever actually happening, but I figured I need someone with some real skills to help here.
 
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The core would rapidly expand thanks to a sudden decrease in pressure. How rapidly I don't know. It might blow itself apart due to the immense difference in pressure.

The outer layers would begin to fall towards the empty center, and a lot of gravitational potential energy would probably be given up as heat in the short term, while in the long run the Sun would end up much less massive and far dimmer.
 
Welcome to the PF. :smile:
Presenter said:
If a (maxwells) demon were to snatch the core from the sun, what would the result be?
We generally do not allow questions about impossible scenarios here at the PF. Asking what happens to the planets if the Sun suddenly disappeared is a similar type question that we get frequently. @Drakkith gave you the best response that we can offer for this impossible scenario.

If you are interested in the many interesting phenomena of solar dynamics, there are lots of great papers and discussion about that. When coming up with thought experiments (which is a very good thing for learning), please try to constrain the thinking to mainstream science, and situations that may be hard for you to understand so far. There are many thought experiments that we discuss here that lead to very interesting learning experiences.

Since this thread here is based on an impossible scenrio, it needs to be closed. :smile:
 

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