Will the sun eventually explode?
No, the Sun will not explode. To explode indicates that the internal forces will eventually overcome gravity and violently tear the Sun apart. This is not the fate in store for the Sun. As Clark described, the Sun will eventually start to burn helium to produce Carbon. However, that is as far as it will go. The Sun does not have enough mass to generate the heat required to burn carbon to produce heavier elements. As helium builds up in the Sun’s core, the hydrogen fusion will move to higher levels in the Sun. This will more strongly heat the outer layers of the Sun causing them to expand. (This is not an explosion.) The Sun will eventually expand to swallow Earth and possibly even Mars. At the same time the core will contract raising the temperature until helium fuses to produce Carbon. The Helium will be burned up fairly quickly. Once it is gone, the core will begin to collapse down to a white dwarf and the outer layers will relatively quietly separate from the core and move outward t
