How Sun supply energy to earth?

The sun is a source of light of different frequencies. The longer wavelength lights like IR radiations are more scattered [heat moves randomly]. They generate more momentum transfer with other molecules on their path and generate heat than small wavelength visible light which travel in a straight line.

In the core of the Sun, hydrogen is converted into helium. This is called nuclear fusion. It takes four hydrogen atoms to fuse into each helium atom. During the process, some of the mass is converted into energy.

4H ---- > He

Mass of 4 H atoms: 4.03130 AMU

Mass of 1 He atom: 4.00268 AMU

?1 Atomic Mass Unit (AMU) equals 1.67x10-27kgs

The difference between the mass of 4 H atoms and 1 He atom is 0.02862 AMU which is only 0.71% of the original mass. This small fraction of the mass is converted into energy. If 4 grams (1/8 ounce) of H are converted to He, only 2.8x10-3 grams of the mass is converted to energy:

How much energy is generated from converting such a tiny amount of mass? We can calculate by using Einstein's famous formula.

???E = mc2

???E = (2.8x10-3 grams) x c2

???E = (2.8x10-6 kgs) x (3x108m/sec)2

???E = 2.6x1011 joules

Enough energy to keep a 60-watt light bulb shining for over 100 years!

1 Atomic Mass Unit (AMU) equals 1.67x10-27kgs

Look at the magnitude of energy creation by the sun

It fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen every second, yielding 596 million tons of helium. The remaining four million tons of hydrogen are converted to energy, which makes the Sun shine.

What is sun

Sun is a hot, glowing ball of hydrogen and helium. The Sun is approximately 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth. Our solar system's largest object is the Sun. To fill the volume of the Sun, 1.3 million Earths would be required. Its gravity holds the solar system together, keeping everything in orbit around it, from the largest planets to the smallest bits of debris.

How was the sun created?

Waves of energy traveling through space pressed clouds of such particles closer together about 4.5 billion years ago, and gravity caused them to collapse in on themselves and then begin to spin, the first steps in the formation of the solar system. The spinning caused the cloud to flatten into a pancake-like disc. The material clumped together in the centre to form a protostar, which would eventually become the sun.

The temperature of the sun

The Sun's core is the hottest part of it where the temperature exceeds 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius). The Sun's activity influences the nature of space throughout the solar system, from its powerful eruptions to the steady stream of charged particles it emits. The Sun, the most important source of energy for life on Earth, radiates this energy primarily as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation.

The composition of the sun

The Sun's mass is roughly three-quarters hydrogen (73%); the rest is mostly helium (25%), with much smaller amounts of heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.

How hydrogen reached the sun?

The low-mass elements, hydrogen, and helium were produced in the hot, dense conditions of the birth of the universe itself.

The energy creation by the sun

Every second, the Sun's core fuses approximately 600 million tonnes of hydrogen into helium, converting 4 million tonnes of matter into energy.

In the core of the Sun, hydrogen is converted into helium. This is called nuclear fusion. It takes four hydrogen atoms to fuse into each helium atom. During the process, some of the mass is converted into energy.

4H ---- > He

Mass of 4 H atoms: 4.03130 AMU

?Mass of 1 He atom: 4.00268 AMU

?1 Atomic Mass Unit (AMU) equals 1.67x10-27kgs

The difference between the mass of 4 H atoms and 1 He atom is 0.02862 AMU which is only 0.71% of the original mass. This small fraction of the mass is converted into energy. If 4 grams (1/8 ounce) of H are converted to He, only 2.8x10-3 grams of the mass is converted to energy:

How much energy is generated from converting such a tiny amount of mass? We can calculate by using Einstein's famous formula.

???E = mc2

???E = (2.8x10-3 grams) x c2

???E = (2.8x10-6 kgs) x (3x108m/sec)2

???E = 2.6x1011 joules

Enough energy to keep a 60-watt light bulb shining for over 100 years!

1 Atomic Mass Unit (AMU) equals 1.67x10-27kgs

Look at the magnitude of energy creation by the sun

It fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen every second, yielding 596 million tons of helium. The remaining four million tons of hydrogen are converted to energy, which makes the Sunshine.

How long sun’s energy would last

Over the next five billion years, the sun will burn through most of its hydrogen, and helium will become its major source of fuel.

How sun sends energy to earth?

The sun's energy, in the form of electromagnetic radiation, travels to Earth at the speed of light (EMR).

The electromagnetic spectrum is made up of waves with varying frequencies and wavelengths.

A wave's frequency represents how many times the wave repeats itself in a given unit of time. High-frequency waves have very short wavelengths and repeat themselves several times in a given unit of time. Low-frequency waves, on the other hand, have much longer wavelengths.

The energy equation is E = hν.

E represents energy, h represents Planck's constant (6.626 x 10 -34 J · s), and v represents frequency. The energy equation is a direct relationship between frequency and energy because as frequency increases, so does energy.

The shorter the wavelengths and higher the frequency corresponds with greater energy. So, the longer the wavelengths and lower the frequency results in lower energy.

Infrared radiations generate heat and visible radiations generate light

Infrared radiations have small frequencies, larger wavelengths, and low energy. Visible light has a high frequency, smaller wavelength, and high energy.

Infrared radiation [ 780 nm and 1 mm] vs Visible radiation [380 to 700 nm] ?

Infrared radiation [heat] moves randomly hitting molecules on its path by momentum transfer and generating vibrations than the visible light. The long wavelength infrared light can resonate easily with some molecules and cause them to move or vibrate, and this causes a temperature rise. Long-wavelength lights are more scattered.

The short-wavelength visible lights have no scattering. They move in a straight line with relatively less momentum transfer to other molecules on their path and hence relatively visible lights produce very little heat.

Credit: Google