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| The age of the Sun |
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By means of many different methods researchers have found out that the age of the Sun and the rest of the solar system is about 4.6 billion years.
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The methods that are used are for instance:
Radio dating
Some elements are radio active, i.e. that the atomic cores are inconstant and fall apart after a while. This process is called fission (as opposed to “fusion” which has the main responsibility for the production of energy in the Sun and other stars). Uranium is a well-known example. It is easy to measure fairly accurately how fast different types of inconstant atomic cores fall apart and one knows what elements they form.
For instance, a certain type (isotope) of uranium throws off a helium core and becomes the element thorium. Thorium is also inconstant and splits into other elements. Thereafter a long series of fissions may occur and a number of elements may be formed and ruined.
The end product is lead. If we measure the quantities of uranium, thorium, lead and the other intermediate types of atoms in stone, we may calculate the age of the stone. |
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A similar method is applied in order to decide the age of organic material from the last few thousand years. Then it is the radio active C-14 that is being used.
In the solar system we do not find any stones that are older than about 4.65 billion years. The oldest stones having been found are some meteorites, and also stones from the surface of the moon.
By means of powerful computers researchers may calculate the age of the Sun. We see how much light the Sun emits and consequently we may easily calculate how much hydrogen it uses up during one second. We may reckon that the Sun to begin with had as much hydrogen in the core as it now has on the surface. This helps us calculate exactly how much hydrogen the Sun must have converted into helium in order to make the Sun exactly how we see it at the present time. It is then relatively easy to calculate the age of the Sun.
The planets and the rest of the solar system must have been formed concurrent with the Sun. |
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