Question

Name the nuclear fuel present in the sun.

Answer 1

Hint: The sun produces its heat and light energy by nuclear fusion of small nuclei.

Complete step by step answer:
The sun and in fact, most stars produce light and heat energy by the process of nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is the process of converting a number of smaller nuclei into heavier nuclei with the release of a large amount of energy arising due to a small difference in mass attributed to the difference between the binding energy of the reactant nuclei and the product nuclei.
The sun converts lighter hydrogen nuclei into heavier helium nuclei, along with the release of a large amount of energy by the process of nuclear fusion.

Thus, the nuclear fuel present in the sun is hydrogen or in essence, hydrogen nuclei.

Additional information:

During the process of nuclear fusion, there is a small difference in the total masses of the nuclei on the reactant side and the product side. This mass difference arises due to the emission of α, β and γ particles. This difference in mass is termed as Δm.
The energy released in the process is given by Einstein’s famous energy-mass equivalence equation

$E=\Delta m\times {{c}^{2}}$

Where E is the released energy and c is the speed of light.

Note: Students should not get confused between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. They should remember that the process occurring in the sun is nuclear fusion. They should also remember that nuclear fusion is much more energy releasing than nuclear fission. This can also be termed as a reason how our sun is able to provide heat and light energy to the whole solar system continuously for so many years. This reasoning is useful in remembering that nuclear fusion, and not fission occurs in the sun.