1. #1

    Science Question

    Hey MMOChamp science lovers.
    I found this picture online that notes that the center of the suns core is 150x the density of water.
    Taking into consideration that they mention water, and not a solid like iron or something
    (knowing of course that at those temperatures nothing could really be a solid) it struck me as odd.

    http://www.embracingthenerd.com/wp-c.../the_sun31.jpg

    What i'm wondering is, how exactly dense is that? Comparing it to something more mundane lol.

    I'm not great at math and this might be something someone out there fancies solving for me lol.



    ps. not taking the word of the random internet picture for truth, just became curious of what it would actually be.

  2. #2
    Bloodsail Admiral Omertocracy's Avatar
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    That's almost as dense as the average MMO player's skull! *badum tsh*

  3. #3
    Dreadlord Cusco's Avatar
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    I would guess that they use water as a comparison for two reasons:

    1. Almost everyone has a good grasp on how dense water is, because we all use it every day. Place a normal bottle of water in front of anyone and s/he will have an idea of how much it weighs and how heavy it is to pick up. It's easy to understand the immense weight of the sun when you imagine that if you fill the bottle with pieces from the suns core, it would weigh about the same as 150 equally sized bottles of water.

    2. The metric system is based around water, 1 ml of water weighs 1 g, that's the definition of gram. As a direct result, 1 liter of water weighs extremely close to 1 kg. The definition of a liter/litre is 1 dm^3. So if the suns core weighs 150 kg/dm^3, then you don't even have to do any calculations to find out that it's 150 times more than water. It's therefore both easy and natural to compare densities with water.

    I'm aware that you didn't ask why they compare it to water, but I included the answer to your question as well. It's the bolded part.



    Fun fact about the sun: The core of the sun is 15.6 million degrees Celsius (28.1 million degrees Fahrenheit). Imagine that you'd be able to heat up a coin to that temperature and place it on the ground. The heat would then set fire to everything within a 4 km (2.5 miles) radius.
    Last edited by Cusco; 2012-12-01 at 03:47 PM.
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  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Cusco View Post
    I would guess that they use water as a comparison for two reasons:

    1. Almost everyone has a good grasp on how dense water is, because we all use it every day. Place a normal bottle of water in front of anyone and s/he will have an idea of how much it weighs and how heavy it is to pick up. It's easy to understand the immense weight of the sun when you imagine that if you fill the bottle with pieces from the suns core, it would weigh about the same as 150 equally sized bottles of water.

    2. The metric system is based around water, 1 ml of water weighs 1 g, that's the definition of gram. As a direct result, 1 liter of water weighs extremely close to 1 kg. The definition of a liter/litre is 1 dm^3. So if the suns core weighs 150 kg/dm^3, then you don't even have to do any calculations to find out that it's 150 times more than water. It's therefore both easy and natural to compare densities with water.

    I'm aware that you didn't ask why they compare it to water, but I included the answer to your question as well. It's the bolded part.



    Fun fact about the sun: The core of the sun is 15.6 million degrees Celsius (28.1 million degrees Fahrenheit). Imagine that you'd be able to heat up a coin to that temperature and place it on the ground. The heat would then set fire to everything within a 4 km (2.5 miles) radius.

    2. I'm American so we (for god knows what reason) don't use the metric system so i was totally not aware of this xD thanks for putting that in there cause that actually answers the whole question perfectly


    lmao i need to find an entire site devoted to the fun facts cause it's stuff like that that make science interesting to me
    Quote Originally Posted by -Ethos- View Post
    I literally die every time i see people using literally wrong.

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