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Are the Atoms in the Sun in a Liquid or Gaseous State?

-- | December 4, 2015

Question: Hi, in the school I had an argument with my friend about the sun. I claimed that the sun is composed of the greatest part of the liquid hydrogen and helium , hydrogen and helium gas turns to liquid form due to the enormous pressure of the sun’s gravity. an example is Jupiter, it is much smaller than the sun but yet has so much pressure that the helium and hydrogen gas becomes liquid. We say that Jupiter is a gas planet and consists of the largest part of gas, but it not true because 3/4 of jupiter is a giant liquid ocean. So if jupiter can convert the gas to liquid by its pressure, then should the sun of course be able to do the same thing because it is larger and has a higher pressure. it’s the same thing with the sun as Jupiter, it consists mostly of gas, and then it should also have the ability to convert gas into liquid form.
The question is does the the sun consists mostly of gas or mostly of liquid? Explain your answer, thanks. — Osama

Answer: Well, in fact the hydrogen and helium in the Sun are neither in gas nor liquid form. Due to the extremely high pressures and temperatures found in the Sun hydrogen and helium are in a *plasma* state. The difference between a liquid and a plasma is that the atoms in a liquid are intact (i.e. they have all of their electrons) and are often in molecular bonds with other atoms. In a plasma, on the other hand, atoms are usually ionized (missing one or more of their electrons). A plasma is closer to a gas than a liquid, but technically a gas and a plasma are different states of matter.

Jeff Mangum

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