Why stars shine
Created | Updated Feb 4, 2004
Stars on the main sequence of the Hertzprung-Russell diagram like the Sun, shine because they are converting hydrogen into helium in their cores, in the process known as 'nuclear fusion'. The nucleus of a hydrogen atom consists of a single protons and two neutrons, held together by a short-range interaction called the 'strong nuclear force'. To make a helium nucleus from hydrogen, you start with four protons, persuade two of them to convert themselves into neutrons, and stick the resulting four particles together. This is nt easy, but nature has found two ways to perform this - and both operate inside stars.
