Turning Saturn into a Sun

[dryson]

I watched a documentary on the history channel that related to the Sol system's formation. The show went rhough various scenario's regarding how each planet's core, especially Earth's, may have formed. Saturn caught my attention when the host's discussed the fact that Saturn did not have a active core of energetic properties like the solid planets did but was composed of a core of pure gravity. Since Saturn is a gas giant any form of energetic activity like that of the Earth or Sun's core would cause the gas to ignite into a ball of superheated gas. The question I have is what could the possible outcome's be if a device was dropped into the center of Saturn's core that released an energetic amount of energy that ignited the gas giant?

Would the result be an explosion that would send the rings of Saturn hurtling towards Jupiter?
Would the result be that the gas giant would become another sun in the Sol system that would vaporize the
rocks and ice roids in it's rings and possibly ingite the fuse that would start life on the planet's that surround it?

 

[BoJangles2]

I don’t think there is an answer to this question as the question is wrong, mainly in the assumption that you could get Saturn to start fusing elements.

I don’t think Saturn has enough mass to sustain fusion. Your little explosion would be just that, a little explosion, not even visible from the outside.

Please note I'm not an expert on anything, but from my little/basic understanding, there seems no possible way to ignite Jupiter or Saturn, though I may be completely wrong.

 

[kg]

Someone asked the same question here not too long ago about blowing up Jupiter. I recall that the gas giants in our solar system are way to small to sustain fusion at there cores. They are also whacked regularly with asteroids and comets and things which release tremendous amounts of energy but don't ignite these planets.

 

[Shpaget]

host's discussed the fact that Saturn did not have a active core of energetic properties like the solid planets did but was composed of a core of pure gravity.

Did the host wear a tin foil hat?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Unfortunately, the Histroy Channel has become a source of more scientific garbage than any other channel lately. It's really sad.

Saturn has nowhere near enough mass to sustain fusion, so it is impossible for it to become a star. If you took all the mass of everything in the solar system except the sun and combined it into one planet, it still wouldn't be massive enough.

 

[crazyeddie]

Saturn caught my attention when the host's discussed the fact that Saturn did not have a active core of energetic properties like the solid planets did but was composed of a core of pure gravity.

Saturn has an active magnetosphere, just like Jupiter, except that it's about 15 times weaker. It has a core of metallic hydrogen, again like Jupiter, but smaller. A planetary core generates gravity from it's mass, but cannot be composed of gravity, which is a force, so I think you are getting your terms confused.

Since Saturn is a gas giant any form of energetic activity like that of the Earth or Sun's core would cause the gas to ignite into a ball of superheated gas. The question I have is what could the possible outcome's be if a device was dropped into the center of Saturn's core that released an energetic amount of energy that ignited the gas giant?

There is no known "device" that could provide the necessary energy to do anything at all to Saturn's core or atmosphere.

Would the result be an explosion that would send the rings of Saturn hurtling towards Jupiter?

Since the rings are mostly ice, the heat from any explosion would cause them to simply evaporate into a concentric cloud of gas.

Would the result be that the gas giant would become another sun in the Sol system that would vaporize the
rocks and ice roids in it's rings and possibly ingite the fuse that would start life on the planet's that surround it?

You're describing the plot to the 1984 movie 2010. Let's not confuse science with science fiction.