h/w help?

[thunderhockey19 0]

hey i got a h/w question for science that asks, what percent of hydrogen has the sun converted to helium? just to let you guys know i searched on google and stuff and looked in my book couldnt find it. if anyone can give me some help here it would be appreciated. oh yes it tells what percents they might be to its 5%, 10%, 25%, or 50%. im pretty positive its not as high as 25 percent or 50 so i just need a point in the right direction or something. thanks.

[kovalchuk71 212]

found this on msn does this help? :)

D. The Sun’s Remote Past and Distant Future

The Sun and planets in our solar system formed when a rotating cloud of dust and gas in space collapsed, or condensed, due to the gravitational attraction between the particles in the cloud. A nearby supernova explosion may have triggered the collapse, or a random fluctuation in the density of the cloud may have started the process. The Sun formed at the center of the spinning cloud, while the debris that condensed into planets formed a flattened disk revolving around the Sun. When the Sun reached its present size about 4.6 billion years ago, it was hot enough inside to ignite the nuclear reactions that make it glow.

The Sun cannot shine forever, because it will eventually use up its present fuel. The nuclear fusion reactions that make the Sun glow (for more information, see the section entitled The Sun’s Energy in this article) depend on the element hydrogen, but the hydrogen in the Sun’s core will eventually run out. Nuclear reactions have converted about 37 percent of the hydrogen originally in the Sun’s core into helium. Astronomers estimate that the Sun’s core will run out of hydrogen in about 7 billion years.

[thunderhockey19 0]

thanks but that doesnt really help because i didnt need to know how much of it is converted to helium i needed to know how much of the suns hydrogen has it converted as in how much is left to convert to helium,before it runs out of hydrogen.

[hocckey77 0]

63% left.Because the article said 37% has already been converted.

[kovalchuk71 212]

good job hockey77. A+ :)

[LegoDoom 0]

"...what percent of hydrogen has the sun converted to helium?..."

thanks but that doesnt really help because i didnt need to know how much of it is converted to helium i needed to know how much of the suns hydrogen has it converted as in how much is left to convert to helium,before it runs out of hydrogen.

No where did you say that you needed to know how much hydrogen was left to be converted. You asked what percentage of hydrogen has the sun converted to helium. And that's the exact answer you got back.

[kovalchuk71 212]

well he did a good job subtracting at least ;)

[thunderhockey19 0]

sorry lego i wrote the question out wrong, thats why i corrected my self to let him know what i meant. which none of this really helped any way because the choices were 5,10,25,and 50 percent. i didnt get any of those replied back to me so it really doesnt matter.

[sn1per 0]

not sure if this is too late but apparently according to my astronomy text, about 65% of the core is turned to helium. It however does not say the whole mass of the sun so I'm guessing 25%. But then again, the majority of the star's mass is in the core and thus it may be 50%

[Chadd 916]

Sounds like an old textbook with out of date figures.

[sn1per 0]

the book was actually published early this year. I just skimmed through it though. Dunno if it's 100% correct.

[Chadd 916]

sorry, I was thinking of thunder's post

[thunderhockey19 0]

its actually not that old of a book like a year or two i believe, thanks guys i ended up getting an answer from a friend. i already forgot what it was so dont ask what it was.lol, sorry.