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In: Planetary Science
I actually explained this to my twins when they were 5 and they got it!
The sun is made of hydrogen. Gravity squeezes it together. In the center it is so hot, and it is squeezed so hard, that 2 hydrogens are squeezed together and become a helium.
If you were to weigh the two hydrogens and the helium you get from them, you will find that the helium weighs a little bit less than the hydrogen you started with. Where did the extra weight go? Did the mass disappear? No! the missing mass is converted to energy. The heat and light that we see and feel is the energy.
There is a simple equation to tell you how much energy you get from squeezing 2 hydrogens into one helium, but that will have to wait until you learn multiplication.
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