What approximate amount of hydrogen does the Sun convert into helium every second to sustain its output?
Answer
600 million tons
The Sun produces an enormous quantity of energy, quantified around $3.86 imes 10^{26}$ watts. To maintain this output, which is equivalent to detonating hundreds of billions of megatons of TNT every second, a specific mass of fuel must be processed through nuclear fusion. The mechanism powering this involves converting hydrogen mass into radiant energy. To sustain this rate over time, the Sun converts approximately 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every single second, demonstrating the immense scale of this ongoing thermonuclear reaction.
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