The concept of turning Jupiter right into a “Second Solar” has lengthy been a staple of science fiction, most notably in Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey Two. However might we really obtain this in actuality? If we had been to drop an enormous nuclear or hydrogen bomb into its ambiance, would the fuel big ignite?
The brief reply is: No. Right here is the deep dive into why Jupiter stays a “failed star” and why even probably the most highly effective human weapons can’t change that.
The Fable of the “Spark”
One frequent false impression is that Jupiter is just a large ball of gas ready for a “match” to strike. Since Jupiter’s ambiance consists primarily of hydrogen and helium—the identical components that energy the Solar—it’s tempting to suppose that a big sufficient explosion might set off a sequence response.
Nonetheless, stars don’t burn like a forest fireplace. They function on the precept of nuclear fusion, which is essentially totally different from chemical combustion. To begin fusion, you don’t simply want warmth; you want an amazing, sustained quantity of strain and gravity.
The Mass Drawback: Why Jupiter is Too Gentle
In astrophysics, mass is king. For a celestial physique to turn into a star, its core have to be sizzling and dense sufficient to power hydrogen atoms to fuse into helium. This course of requires temperatures exceeding 10 million levels Celsius.
Whereas Jupiter is the biggest planet in our photo voltaic system, it’s nonetheless far too small to generate that type of inside strain.
The Vital Threshold
Present astrophysical fashions counsel that for a fuel big to provoke steady nuclear fusion, it will want a minimal mass of roughly 7% to 7.5% of the Solar’s mass ($M_{odot}$).
To place that in perspective:
Jupiter’s present mass: $approx 0.001 M_{odot}$Minimal Star Mass: $approx 0.075 M_{odot}$
This implies Jupiter would have to be roughly 70 to 80 occasions extra huge than it’s at this time to transition from a planet right into a Pink Dwarf star. Even when it had been 13 occasions extra huge, it will solely turn into a Brown Dwarf—a “sub-stellar” object that may fuse deuterium however not strange hydrogen.
Might We “Add” Sufficient Mass?
A well-liked follow-up query is whether or not we might mix different planets to assist Jupiter attain this threshold. Sadly, even that wouldn’t work. In case you crashed each different planet in our photo voltaic system (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and all of the rocky planets) into Jupiter, its mass would solely improve by a tiny fraction. It could nonetheless be nowhere close to the 80x requirement.
What Would Occur if We Dropped a Nuke?
If we had been to detonate an enormous hydrogen bomb in Jupiter’s ambiance, the outcome can be visually spectacular however cosmically insignificant.
The Explosion: You’ll see a vibrant flash and a brief “bruise” within the cloud layers (just like the affect of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994).The Aftermath: Jupiter’s huge gravity and atmospheric strain would shortly soak up the vitality. With out the large gravitational strain to maintain a fusion response, the “fireplace” would merely exit.
Closing Ideas
Jupiter is a powerful world that acts as a gravitational defend for Earth, however it isn’t a “star-in-waiting.” It lacks the basic requirement for stardom: excessive mass. For now, and for the foreseeable future, Jupiter will stay a fuel big, safely orbiting our one and solely Solar.
