Concept explainers
Show that the statement in the text is correct: namely, that roughly 600 million tons of hydrogen must be converted to helium in the Sun each second to explain its energy output. (Hint: Recall Einstein’s most famous formula, and remember that for each kg of hydrogen, 0.0071 kg of mass is converted into energy.) How long will it be before 10% of the hydrogen is converted into helium? Does this answer agree with the lifetime you calculated in Exercise 16.35?
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Astronomy
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