The sun process about 606 million tons of hydrogen every second, producing more than 4 millions of helium in the process. By comparing this rate with the mass of the sun, we can ask: how long will our sun last?
Obviously, the sun will not last forever, although it has got an incredibly long life ahead of it. The sun is now middle-aged. It has taken about 5 billion years to use up half of its hydrogen fuel. In the years to come it will slowly get hotter and a little larger. Over the next 5 billion years, its temperature and size will gradually increase as the hydrogen is burned. When all the hydrogen and the central core is gone, the sun will be 3 times larger than it is now. On earth the oceans will boil away. The dying sun will swallow the earth and turn solid rock into molten lava.
Deep in the sun, helium atoms will combine to make atoms of carbon and heavier substances. Eventually, the sun will cool to a ball of nuclear waste, known as a white star. How ironic what helped us will eventually kill us.