Dr. Lisa Prato says that, because of its mass, because of the rate at which it’s burning energy, and because we have dated our solar system by geological techniques, just looking at the age of our earth and the moon. We know that the oldest rocks are about 4.5 billion years old. We can work out, also, what the energy output is of the sun, and we can make an estimate for how much material it has left to burn, and the estimates for its lifetime are consistent with this: 4.5 billion years old for the earth and the moon, 5 billion years old for the sun.
It requires a bit more than classical physics, but still, you can estimate the sun’s lifetime from a very simple calculation.
lifetime = (energy) / (rate [energy/time] at which sun emits energy)
Dr. Lisa Prato says that, because of its mass, because of the rate at which it’s burning energy, and because we have dated our solar system by geological techniques, just looking at the age of our earth and the moon. We know that the oldest rocks are about 4.5 billion years old. We can work out, also, what the energy output is of the sun, and we can make an estimate for how much material it has left to burn, and the estimates for its lifetime are consistent with this: 4.5 billion years old for the earth and the moon, 5 billion years old for the sun.
It requires a bit more than classical physics, but still, you can estimate the sun’s lifetime from a very simple calculation.
lifetime = (energy) / (rate [energy/time] at which sun emits energy)