What are the two major elements making up the sun?

The two major elements making up the Sun are hydrogen and helium. Together, they account for roughly 98% of the Sun’s mass, while oxygen, carbon, neon, iron, and other heavier elements make up most of the remainder.

Hydrogen is especially important because the Sun produces its energy by nuclear fusion. In the extremely hot, dense core, hydrogen nuclei combine through the proton–proton chain to form helium. A tiny amount of mass is converted into energy during this process, creating the sunlight and heat that reach Earth.

The Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago from a collapsing cloud of gas and dust. Its original material included hydrogen and helium produced shortly after the Big Bang, along with heavier elements made by earlier generations of stars. A common mix-up is to describe the Sun as burning hydrogen like a fire; it is not combustion, but nuclear fusion. The Sun is a star classified as a G-type main-sequence star.