ELI5: What is the surface of the Sun actually made of?

The surface of the Sun is not a solid ground at all, but a giant, glowing ocean of super-hot gas called plasma.

If you tried to stand on the Sun, you wouldn't find any dirt, rock, or hard ground like we have on Earth. Instead, you would fall right through, just like trying to stand on thick steam rising from a hot bath.

Here is what the Sun's surface is really made of, using things you might see around the house:

• Hydrogen and Helium: About three-quarters of the Sun is made of hydrogen, which is the same light gas that makes party balloons float. Almost all the rest is helium, another very light gas.
• The Fourth State of Matter: In everyday life, we know about solids (like ice cubes), liquids (like tap water), and gases (like the air we breathe). But the Sun is so unimaginably hot that it bakes normal gas into something wilder called plasma.
• A Boiling Pot of Soup: Because plasma is charged with energy, the surface looks like a giant, bubbling pot of tomato soup on a hot kitchen stove. Bright bubbles of hot gas, as big as entire countries on Earth, rise up to the surface, pop, cool down, and sink back down again.
• A Glowing Lightbulb: Even though it is made of gas, the surface looks solid to our eyes from far away. This is because the gas is so tightly packed and hot that it glows bright yellow and white, just like the wire inside an old-fashioned lightbulb when you flip the switch.