The sun consumes 4.2 million tons of matter per second, why has it not been extinguished after burning for 4.6 billion years? what fate

Speaking of the sun, we are both familiar and unfamiliar. We are familiar because we can feel the sun rising and setting slowly every day. It seems to accompany our life all the time. The strange reason is that the sun is very mysterious in the solar system and even the universe. Human beings are still unable to penetrate the mysteries of existence. Nowadays, science and technology are constantly advancing, and human beings have more opportunities to explore the mysterious aspects of the universe than before. The sun, a huge star, has a huge impact on our earth. With a deeper understanding of the sun today, many people should be most concerned about why the sun has not been extinguished after burning for a full 4.6 billion years? What will be its ultimate fate?

According to our common sense, no matter what it is, it must have fuel for combustion, and it cannot burn without fuel, and the natural sun is the same. But what kind of fuel can support the sun's burning for 4.6 billion years and has not been extinguished? This kind of fuel must be different. Some scientists once believed that the sun produced energy through combustion caused by certain chemical reactions.

But it was later proved that this idea was not in line with the facts. If the sun uses chemical fuels to generate energy, then the sun should have run out of fuel and stopped burning tens of thousands of years ago. But the sun has not yet shown signs of fuel exhaustion, and it is burning vigorously as always, which means that the sun is burning for other reasons.

Until Einstein proposed the mass-energy equation, a turning point appeared. From the mass-energy equation: Any object with mass must have an equal amount of energy. Nuclear energy gradually came into our field of vision, and later atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs were developed. The powerful power of nuclear fusion made people shudder. Later, some people asked whether the burning method of the sun is nuclear fusion reaction?

Scientists believe that the core of the sun itself is a large nuclear power station, which is undergoing nuclear fusion all the time, and the photons produced by it are ejected from the interior to the surface of the sun, making the sun look like a big fireball. I am afraid that only nuclear fusion can do this. Powerful energy keeps the sun burning without extinguishing.

The nuclear fusion reaction cannot be without hydrogen atoms, and there are a large number of hydrogen atoms in the sun, and they fuse with each other, releasing huge energy in the process. Of course, on the day when the hydrogen atoms inside the sun are exhausted, the sun may stop burning. What will the sun look like at that time?

In fact, in the universe, stars stop burning every day, which means that the life of stars has come to an end. Stars will continue to burn for about 10 billion years, but the sun has only burned for 4.6 billion years so far. It is in the period of young adults. Based on the 10 billion-year lifespan, the sun can burn for at least 5 billion years. However, because the hydrogen atom fuel inside the sun is gradually decreasing, after 1 billion years, perhaps the sun will undergo some changes, and the volume of the sun will expand significantly, turning into a red giant star.

And this kind of spectacle is also very common. After the sun’s fuel is continuously consumed, its volume will continue to expand, and finally it will engulf Mercury, Venus, and the orbit of the earth. When it reaches the limit volume, it will begin to collapse inward. It's exhausted, so what next?

There are currently 3 known endings of stars, and the endings are naturally different for different volumes and masses. Smaller stars will turn into white dwarfs after they stop burning, which is a common celestial body in the universe, and the sun is also considered a small star, so it will eventually become a white dwarf, so the evolutionary destination is not bad.

But today's technology is so advanced and progressing rapidly, when the sun burns out, maybe human technology will be able to roam freely in the Milky Way, and will also open up other planets.