THE SUN
As we have said repeatedly, the sun is the ultimate source of our
weather. Taking that statement one step further, we will find that it is
the unequal heating of the earth because the earth is a sphere which creates
pressure imbalances, and thus creates winds. But since it is the sun that
is so important, we must first understand
the nature of the sun and the energy it gives us.
DISTANCE
- The sun ranges from 91 (perihelion) to 96 (aphelion) million miles from the earth, averaging 93,000,000 miles away from the earth.
- It takes light over eight minutes to travel that distance.
- A car traveling 60 mph, 24 hours a day would reach the surface of the
sun in 200 years, assuming it doesn't vaporize!
RADIUS
- The radius (the distance from the center to the surface) of
the sun is 870,000 miles or 1.4 million km!
- This compares to the earth's radius of 6370 km.
ENERGY
- The sun is composed of helium (He) and hydrogen (H2).
- Acting like a nuclear reactor, hydrogen fuses into helium,
a process known as fusion.
- 4 x 106 tons of mass is being converted to energy every second.
Remember E=mc2?
- At that rate we only have 100 billion years left (1011).
- Most of our energy comes from a shell of gas 500 km thick
surrounding the sun known as the photosphere.
MASS
- Relative to the earth, the sun is 329,390 times
more massive.
TEMPERATURE.
- The temperature of the sun is 5780°K.
- This compares to the temperature of the earth which is 15°C
or 288°K. In other words, the sun is 20 times hotter than the earth.
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