system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5:If explosions in space can't happen(Movies), why doesn't the vacuum of space put out the sun or at least solar flares instantly?

More in depth: I've heard chemical reactions before but isn't there oxygen on the space ship and in tanks that would provide a nice bang as shown in the movies?
Still, solar flares shouldn't happen, but do???

Has Nasa experimented and video recorded an explosion?
gpt
You're confusing explosion with combustion. Combustion is what we know typically as fire, and it can't occur in space without oxygen or another oxidizer.

Explosions, however, are just a rapid release of energy, and they happen in space all the time. While they might look plenty fiery, combustion isn't (typically) occurring. Stars like the sun, for instance, are not burning but constantly undergoing thermonuclear fusion which pumps out tons of energy in the form of light and heat. A solar flare is an abnormally large and fast release of energy.

What you're probably referring to when people say explosions can't happen in space, is the fact that you can't *hear* an explosion in space because sound requires a medium of transmission, and since space is a vacuum, there isn't a medium for the sound to travel through.