	Sun molecule

HE57HeE56OE54CE53NeE53NE53FeE52SiE53MgE52SE52

In science, sun molecule is the chemical name sun, defined specifically as a 10-element thermonuclear molecule. [1] The approximate molecular formula for the sun, first calculated in circa 2005 by American chemical engineer Libb Thims, is shown adjacent. [2]

A point to note about defining the sun as a ten element molecule, solar spectral emissions indicate that about 67 elements exist in the volume of the sun. Of historical note, American astronomer Henry Russell made the quantitative analysis of the chemical composition of the solar atmosphere in 1929, deriving the abundances of 56 elements. [3]

To a good approximation, however, the bulk of its body is comprised of ten elements, namely hydrogen H, helium He, oxygen O, and carbon C, among six other varieties, and it is reasoned that these central ten elements account for the majority of its properties.

A distinction of the sun molecule, as compared to, for instance, the earth molecule, is that contraction of the sun’s mass acts to cause activation of thermonuclear reactions, i.e. hydrogen burning, in its structure, such that protons and neutrons are active in its density, thus deviating it from the standard classification of a “molecule” as a structure of two or more atoms.

	planetary-system-as-molecule

An artistic conception of Kepler 11, a sun-like star with surrounding planetary system; Spanish science-religion collision philosopher Miguel de Unamuno postulated in 1912 that a "planetary system is itself but a molecule, [which] is in turn but a cell in the universe" (see: cell-as-molecule). [4]

See also
● Human molecule
● Bacterial molecule
● Walking molecule
● Molecular evolution table

References
1. Thims, Libb. (2008). The Human Molecule (ch. 8: Modern Views, section: “Planetary-sized molecules”, pgs. 57-59) (preview). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
2. Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One) (pgs. 20-21) (preview), (Google books). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
3. (a) Russell, Henry N. (1929). “On the Composition of the Sun’s Atmosphere”, ApJ, 70: 11-82.
(b) Grevesse, N. and Sauval, A.J. (1999). Standard Solar Composition (pgs. 161-) in: Solar Compostion and its Evolution, from Core to Corona: Proceedings of an Issi Workshop 26-30 January 1998, Bern, Switzerland. Sprinter.
4. Unamuno, Miguel de. (1912). The Tragic Sense of Life (pg. 148). Dover, 1954.

External links
● Sun molecule – IoHT Glossary.