When the Sun enters its red giant phase, what exactly will happen to Mercury?
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$\begingroup$ When that happens, we will all be standing around asking "What Mercury?" $\endgroup$– JimCommented Aug 24, 2015 at 16:39
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1 Answer
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It will simply be swallowed up. There's no fall involved.
All the material that once made up Mercury will become part of the mass of Sun and presumably over time diffuse completely into that mass, so that no trace of Mercury will be found, even though its actual matter hasn't been destroyed.
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1$\begingroup$ Do you have some scientific reasoning to explain this better? Will Mercury melt and diffuse that way? How will the Sun overcome the intrinsic gravitational pull holding mercury together? etc, etc. More explanation and details are needed to flush out this answer $\endgroup$– JimCommented Aug 24, 2015 at 16:42
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1$\begingroup$ @Jim, if Mercury accumulates an amount of energy larger than its gravitational potential energy, then it will diffuse. Figuring out whether it will accumulate this much energy or not when the Sun is in the red giant phase needs some detailed calculations though. So I agree that we can't say what will happen until a detailed calculation is made. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 24, 2015 at 16:48
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$\begingroup$ Once Mercury has been absorbed and thus also melted down, vapourised and even plasmified I can't really see how it could maintain its integrity, even though I accept your point about its gravitational potential energy. It's hard to imagine that this 'blob of Mercury' would sink to the centre of the Sun without being torn up and diffused out of existence. $\endgroup$– GertCommented Aug 24, 2015 at 17:04
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$\begingroup$ @Jim The surface of the Sun will be about 3500K, its interior will be hotter. Maybe you should argue why you think it won't vapourise? The only argument is the timescale. $\endgroup$– ProfRobCommented Aug 24, 2015 at 19:33
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$\begingroup$ @RobJeffries I'm not arguing anything, I'm pointing out that the answer needs to be expanded upon. I happen to agree with it, it's just a stub $\endgroup$– JimCommented Aug 24, 2015 at 19:35