Incredible, but possible: how much water would we need to extinguish the Sun?

We see the sun as a huge ball of fire, burning for eternity and giving us warmth, light and life. But, what if, hypothetically speaking, we wanted to extinguish the Sun? We are used to extinguishing fires with water, so maybe we could extinguish the Sun with enough water?

Nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion occurs when, under high pressure and temperature, the nuclei of an atom become nuclei of atoms of other heavier elements.

The most common reaction in stars is when hydrogen isotope atoms combine to form helium atoms. Before explaining below, let’s see how merging works:

How would melting affect water?

Let’s imagine that we managed to get enough water from somewhere to make its sphere the size of the Sun. Yes, it is not possible, but hypothetically let’s say that we can get so much water. Because it’s cold in space, that water would probably freeze, but what if we were to push that ice ball toward the Sun? Would this be some kind of ice cube challenge for the Sun?

Of course, as soon as you get closer to the Sun’s atmosphere, the ice ball will evaporate and dissipate. So that would be the first obstacle: somehow directing an incredible amount of water vapor towards the solar nucleus. And if it succeeds, could the Sun be extinguished with so much water?

As we have seen previously, the main fuel for fusion is hydrogen. There are two hydrogen atoms in a molecule of water, so instead of extinguishing the Sun, we splash more fuel on it! Congratulations, we achieved the opposite result to what we wanted.

In fact, the fusion reaction would begin in the sun-sized sphere of water. Its own gravity would draw water toward the center, which would then heat up and start the reaction of hydrogen to helium.

However, if somehow such a water ball could connect to the Sun, it would become even hotter and six times brighter.

In water 89 percent. The mass consists of oxygen. And the average density of the Sun is 1.4 times greater than that of water. Therefore, taking the volume of water from the Sun, its mass will be 1 / 1.4 = 0.71 Solar Mass, and it will contain 0.71 * 0.89 = 63 percent. Solar mass of oxygen and 8 percent. Solar plus hydrogen. The Sun contains 0.74 Solar mass Hydrogen and 0.24 Solar mass Helium.

This would give a mass of the Sun of 1.7 masses, of which 48 percent would be hydrogen, 37 percent oxygen, and 14 percent helium (1 percent remains for heavier elements). Would such a star burn? Yes, but there would be a different synthesis in it than in the Sun. It would be a bluish-white star that would emit more ultraviolet light. Furthermore, six times as much heat would reach Earth, causing the biosphere to burn and the oceans to evaporate.

Therefore, watering the Sun is definitely not a good idea.

A better solution

The good news is that such hot stars, which experience synthesis reactions from heavier elements (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen), fade much faster than those that slowly glow, like our Sun. They live for millions of years and then they explode like supernovae. In a sense, by looking at the cosmic calendar, you killed the Sun, not only quickly and dramatically, but while enjoying its suffering.

Anyway, there is already a way to extinguish the Sun with water, but it would take as much water as we have already discussed. Only this time the water should accelerate and send itself to the Sun at almost the speed of light. In this way, no flame would be “extinguished”, but the Sun would be destroyed and there would be no large ball of hot gas left.

In fact, it is not necessary to use water for this; in such conditions, anyone could turn off the Sun.

Of course, this would also mean the freezing of all life, and planets of solar gravity not considered would fly aimlessly through the universe.

So extinguishing the Sun is certainly an interesting thought experiment, but in practice it would amount to suicide!