Is Iron Causing All the Flares?

Universe Today ^ | 11/18/03

[LibWhacker]

Wow, bizarre. A neutron star at the core of the Sun? So how long do we have left? Not four billion years, I take it.

[Crazieman]

This would explain a lot of questions that were previously left unanswered. I like to do a lot of astrophyics research, and surprisingly I had never heard of the neutron core theory.

[Cold Heat]

I do not know about this iron business.

Iron cannot in a normal state, be in gaseous form or any other form but a solid.

Fe is more of a planetary building block than a star maker. I am not saying that it does not play a role, but I can't see the element doing what this writer says.

[danneskjold]

nah...it's Bush's fault...

[Ispy4u]

IIRC the total mass of a neutron star is far greater than the mass of the sun. If that is correct then we would already know because we know, at least comparitively, what the solar mass is.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, my education in this area comes almost exclusively from Discovery networks.

[RightWhale]

the solar system came from a single star, and the sun formed on a collapsed supernova core

This iron-core proponent is a crackpot. He may be right, but he needs to follow proper channels of accepted method for creation of science. That means publishing in refereed journals. Going around forcing his eccentric ideas on his peers is the quickest way to become known as a tin-foil specialist. He ought to go on Art Bell, has he already?

[finnman69]

I seemed to remember from Astronomy 101 that our sun is a Generation II star and we are all formed from the remnants of old star dust.

[MineralMan]

"Iron cannot in a normal state, be in gaseous form or any other form but a solid.

"

Huh? Iron is fairly easily melted, so it is not always in a solid. Anyone who does welding melts iron frequently. Use a cutting torch? Then you're burning iron in oxygen. That's where all those sparks come from. At a high enough temperature, iron vaporises, as well.

[LibWhacker]

Exactly! This all sounds very tin-foily to me. An iron-rich star formed around a neutron star (if such a thing is even possible) ought to be considerably heavier than a hydrogen star. But we know what the sun weighs and that measurement agrees with it being mostly hydrogen.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

It looks like the author's confused. Does the sun have a neutron star at the core or an iron core? It can't be both.

[LibWhacker]

Any one know anything about this Journal for Fusion Energy? Does it have a reputation for catering to crackpots?

[Semper Paratus]

Is he saying the sun is like a patrushka doll?

[Arkinsaw]

This iron-core proponent is a crackpot.

I did some looking around, he doesn't appear to be a crackpot at all actually.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

This article is too incoherent to know what he means.

[Conservomax]

The center of the earth is iron, when the earth was a molten ball of goo, the iron on the surface slowly collapsed inward to form its core and its magnetic field, while the lighter materials formed the earth's crust and mantle, why can't the same be true for the sun?

[RightWhale]

Journal for Fusion Energy

There seem to be a few hard science articles mixed in with some odd pieces. Don't know if they are still publishing (it's expensive to print a science journal that no one reads,) but the Journal of Fusion Energy is not as rigorous as ordinary physics hournals.

[Arkinsaw]

Before we go calling people crackpots we might want to do a simple Google search for publications.
----------------------------- O. Manuel, The standard solar model versus experimental observations, Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Beyond Standard Model Physics - BEYOND 2002, in press (2002).

O. Manuel and A. Katragada, The Sun's origin and composition: Implications from meteorite studies, Proceedings of the 2002 Conference on Asteroids, Comets and Meteors, in press (2002).

O. Manuel, Cynthia Bolon and Max Zhong, Nuclear systematics: III. The source of solar luminosity, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 252, 3-7 (2002).

O. Manuel, C. Bolon, A. Katragada and M. Insall, Attraction and repulsion of nucleons: Sources of stellar energy, J. Fusion Energy 19, 93-98 (2000).

O. Manuel, C. Bolon & P. Jangam, "The sun's origin, composition and source of energy", in Lunar and Planetary Science XXIX, Abstract 1041, available as 1041-pdf from Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX (CD-ROM, 2001)

O. Manuel, "Isotope ratios: The key to elemental abundances and nuclear reactions in the Sun", in The Origins of the Elements in the Solar System: Implications of Post 1957 Observations, O. K. Manuel, Editor, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, NY, pp. 285-293 (2000).

O. Manuel, "Origin of elements in the solar system", in The Origins of the Elements in the Solar System: Implications of Post 1957 Observations, O. K. Manuel, Editor, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, NY, pp. 589-643 (2000).

O. K. Manuel, J. T. Lee, D. E. Ragland, J. M. D. MacElroy, Bin Li and Wilbur Brown, "Origin of the solar system and its elements", Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 238, nos. 1-2, 213-225 (1998).

O. Manuel, K. Windler, A. Nolte, L. Johannes, J. Zirbel and D. Ragland, "Strange xenon in Jupiter", Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 238, nos. 1-2, 119-121 (1998).

J. T. Lee, B. Li and O. K. Manuel, "On the signature of local element synthesis", Comments on Astrophysics 18, no. 6, 335-345 (1997).

J. T. Lee, B. Li and O. K. Manuel, "Terrestial type xenon in sulfides of the Allende meteorite", Geochemical Journal 30, 17-30 (1996).

O. K. Manuel, "Geochemical measurements of double-beta decay", Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics 17, S221-S229 (1991).

O. K. Manuel and G. Hwaung, " Solar abundance of the elements", Meteoritics 18, 209-222 (1983).

O. K. Manuel, "Heterogeneity of isotopic and elemental compositions in meteorites: Evidence of local synthesis of the elements ", Geokhimiya (12) 1776-1801 (1981) [In Russian].

L. L. Oliver, R. V. Ballad, J. F. Richardson and O. K. Manuel, "Isotopically anomalous tellurium in Allende: Another relic of local element synthesis", J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem. 43, 2207-2216 (1981).

R. V. Ballad, L. L. Oliver, R. G. Downing and O. K. Manuel, "Isotopes of tellurium, xenon and krypton in the Allende meteorite retain record of nucleosynthesis", Nature 277, 615-620 (1979).

O. K. Manuel and D. D. Sabu, "Strange xenon, extinct superheavy elements and the solar neutrino puzzle", Science 195, 208-209 (1977).

O. K. Manuel and D. D. Sabu, "Elemental and isotopic inhomogeneities in noble gases: The case for local synthesis of the chemical elements", Trans. Missouri Acad. Sci. 9, 104 122 (1975).

E. W. Hennecke and O. K. Manuel, and D. D. Sabu, "Double beta-decay of tellurium-128", Phys. Rev. 11, 1378-1384 (1975).

O. K. Manuel, E. W. Hennecke, and D. D. Sabu, "Xenon in carbonaceous chondrites", Nature Phys. Sci. 240, 99-101 (1972).

M. S. Boulos and O. K. Manuel, "The xenon record of extinct radioactivities in the Earth," Science 174, 1334-1336 (1971).

[Cold Heat]

I said normal state.

High temps are required to melt. Normal state is what it is. The normal space conditions. Usually in the very cold category. Iron would be a solid and likely a dust. It cannot be compressed as a gas can and it is not known to react with anything but oxygen.

That is what I meant. Great planetary building material but not likely to start a fusion or fission reaction.

Kind of a nutty theory IMO. We know a great deal about the sun. not enough mind you, but a great deal of information has been gathered, to include much data about composition. Not theory, but data. This article flies in the face of everything we know.

[RightWhale]

Yes, he is a real scientist. The point is that he has earned the label by pushing his ideas. True scientists simply present their ideas. If the ideas catch on it is the merit of the ideas that does this. No amount of salesmanship can do anything but bring labels like 'kook.' If the papers are repeatedly referenced, quoted, then the author has done about the most expected of a scientist.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping