"darkness" can be defined a lot of ways. But, here, I'm going to assume you mean "what could you see if you were down in the core?" A large fraction of all the photons would be in the gamma-ray range. But the density is so high, that these photons only travel ~1 cm before they collide with an electron and are scattered or energy is exchanged with the electrons. That means they'll be on their way to a thermalized ~million-degree-kelven blackbody spectrum. So, the photons that are in the visible range would not have a "Sun-like" appearance, like at the surface. Mostly, it would be a so-bright-your-face-would-vaporize sort of blue, where you could only "see" about one centimeter in front of you. So, is it dark? I guess, in an odd sort of way. You know how if you accidentally look at the Sun (DON'T DO IT), you see black spots for a long time? Well, that's your retina either getting burned or just overloaded to the point where you can't see. (Not sure of the biochemistry here.). Anyway, it would be so bright that it would destroy your receptors, thus making it dark. Then you would go gently into that good night. But, if you mean by "dark" is there light? Yes. LOTS of gamma-ray photons, and a lot of scattered lower-energy photons, too. There is no lack of light. But no light goes more than a centimeter, so it's a haze/cloud/wall of light.
Thank you! That answers my question - personally it is answered by the bright blue haze answer. I do know the biochemical side of things, and after images are basically the light receptors in your eyes needing a rest after working so hard to report all that light. Although if you're looking at the sun, they can be burned out permanently, so yeah. Don't do that. (It doesn't even hurt when the cells are destroyed, so don't assume it's fine because it isn't hurting).
Jason your videos are very informative but what I would like to ask is, how do we know what's really going on inside the sun? Seems the math works out with the physics or is something working we have absolutely no understanding of whats going on inside. Is it all theory and were guessing???
Direct evidence of nuclear fusion comes from neutrinos. This and the rest are well-known and very well understood classical physics. The equations I show are known to all undergraduate physics and engineering majors across the world. These physical principles are so well understood as to be pretty boring. It is really only the fusion aspect that was new. And the need for something beyond classical physics was the problem of 19th century physics. In sum, this is not just a string of words printed on tablets brought down from the mountain. This is a summary of extremely well known ideas.
This is a prime example of the scientific method at work. Hundreds of years ago people hypothesized that the sun was a planet with a huge coal fire on it. As our knowledge of math and physics increased, we disproved that theory. Once we learned that matter is energy, we replaced our theory of the sun with nuclear fusion. By corroborating with other observations such as gravitational orbit, and chromatography, we can confidently know the mass of the sun and what it's made out of. Knowing it's mass and size, we can be pretty sure there's fusion going on inside (also, you know, all the heat that comes out). Finally, we can actually create fusion here on earth in very small amounts, so we know fusion itself is real and not just a theory.
The center of the sun must have heavy elements. If the solar system was a cloud of gas which contained heavy elements, which created also the planets, then those elements would also be attracted in the center.
a new vid yes hello fellow scientist im not an astronomer but but i do understand and enjoy the subject even the math is awesome i messed up and got into biology and env sci.
Is it dark in the center of the Sun?
Good question. Gamma ray photons are not visible.
I would like to know the answer to this as well.
"darkness" can be defined a lot of ways. But, here, I'm going to assume you mean "what could you see if you were down in the core?" A large fraction of all the photons would be in the gamma-ray range. But the density is so high, that these photons only travel ~1 cm before they collide with an electron and are scattered or energy is exchanged with the electrons. That means they'll be on their way to a thermalized ~million-degree-kelven blackbody spectrum. So, the photons that are in the visible range would not have a "Sun-like" appearance, like at the surface. Mostly, it would be a so-bright-your-face-would-vaporize sort of blue, where you could only "see" about one centimeter in front of you.
So, is it dark? I guess, in an odd sort of way. You know how if you accidentally look at the Sun (DON'T DO IT), you see black spots for a long time? Well, that's your retina either getting burned or just overloaded to the point where you can't see. (Not sure of the biochemistry here.). Anyway, it would be so bright that it would destroy your receptors, thus making it dark. Then you would go gently into that good night.
But, if you mean by "dark" is there light? Yes. LOTS of gamma-ray photons, and a lot of scattered lower-energy photons, too. There is no lack of light. But no light goes more than a centimeter, so it's a haze/cloud/wall of light.
Thank you! That answers my question - personally it is answered by the bright blue haze answer.
I do know the biochemical side of things, and after images are basically the light receptors in your eyes needing a rest after working so hard to report all that light. Although if you're looking at the sun, they can be burned out permanently, so yeah. Don't do that. (It doesn't even hurt when the cells are destroyed, so don't assume it's fine because it isn't hurting).
Love going to sleep listening to your videos. I've learned a lot from you. Thanks
Me too.
Why we can use the ideal gas law ??
Jason your videos are very informative but what I would like to ask is, how do we know what's really going on inside the sun?
Seems the math works out with the physics or is something working we have absolutely no understanding of whats going on inside. Is it all theory and were guessing???
Direct evidence of nuclear fusion comes from neutrinos. This and the rest are well-known and very well understood classical physics. The equations I show are known to all undergraduate physics and engineering majors across the world. These physical principles are so well understood as to be pretty boring. It is really only the fusion aspect that was new. And the need for something beyond classical physics was the problem of 19th century physics.
In sum, this is not just a string of words printed on tablets brought down from the mountain. This is a summary of extremely well known ideas.
Hoya science!
This is a prime example of the scientific method at work. Hundreds of years ago people hypothesized that the sun was a planet with a huge coal fire on it. As our knowledge of math and physics increased, we disproved that theory. Once we learned that matter is energy, we replaced our theory of the sun with nuclear fusion. By corroborating with other observations such as gravitational orbit, and chromatography, we can confidently know the mass of the sun and what it's made out of. Knowing it's mass and size, we can be pretty sure there's fusion going on inside (also, you know, all the heat that comes out). Finally, we can actually create fusion here on earth in very small amounts, so we know fusion itself is real and not just a theory.
The center of the sun must have heavy elements. If the solar system was a cloud of gas which contained heavy elements, which created also the planets, then those elements would also be attracted in the center.
Gas? Or plasma
electric or magnetic fields? I fall asleep to this professor too. :)
It's got to be gas under so much pressure that it's practically a fluid, just exceedingly hot. I agree with you, more like a plasma.
Plasma
Keep up the good work
Thanks, will do!
a new vid yes hello fellow scientist im not an astronomer but but i do understand and enjoy the subject even the math is awesome i messed up and got into biology and env sci.
Why do I have the feeling that I’ve seen this before? This looks like a repost of a previous video.
You're right. There were several comments about the fact that music was used underneath the entire video. I removed that for this final version.
@@JasonKendallAstronomer Thanks, That music is distracting.