There exist billions of stars in the sky. Among them, the Sun is the closest to the earth. The sun lies in the middle of the solar system. It makes one rotation every 27 days. Formed about 4.5 billion years ago, it is assumed to be in its midlife. It is expected to continue shining for about five billion more years.
The sun's surface is known as the photosphere. Its temperature is about 5,778 K. The sun's core is, however, much hotter, with its temperature being about 15.7 million K. All this energy is produced via nuclear fusion. This is a nuclear reaction where two hydrogen nuclei fuse to form one helium nucleus, accompanied by release of energy.
The distance from the Earth to the sun is 149.6 million kilometers. The diameter of the sun is 1.392 million kilometers. It has an equatorial circumference of 4.379 million kilometers. These measurements represent 109 times the corresponding measurements of the earth. The sun has a surface area of 6.0877 trillion kilometer squared, about 11,990 times that of the earth. It has a volume 1.3 million times that of earth.
Energy from the sun, known as solar energy, reaches the earth via radiation. The sun can only absorb a small fraction of solar energy; hence plenty of the radiated energy is reverberated back to space. Life on earth is dependent of the absorbed energy. More of its effects include tides, weather patterns and the earth's water cycle.
Plants use solar energy to make their own food, through a process called photosynthesis. This is the basic process that makes food available to all other living things. The sun is also responsible for the energy stored in fossils, as well as petroleum and coal.
Providing unlimited light and heat, the sun is the main source of energy to the earth. Extra applications of solar energy include lighting, generating electricity and in enhancing growth of plants in green houses. Considering all these factors, it is true to say that there can be no life on earth without the sun.
The sun's surface is known as the photosphere. Its temperature is about 5,778 K. The sun's core is, however, much hotter, with its temperature being about 15.7 million K. All this energy is produced via nuclear fusion. This is a nuclear reaction where two hydrogen nuclei fuse to form one helium nucleus, accompanied by release of energy.
The distance from the Earth to the sun is 149.6 million kilometers. The diameter of the sun is 1.392 million kilometers. It has an equatorial circumference of 4.379 million kilometers. These measurements represent 109 times the corresponding measurements of the earth. The sun has a surface area of 6.0877 trillion kilometer squared, about 11,990 times that of the earth. It has a volume 1.3 million times that of earth.
Energy from the sun, known as solar energy, reaches the earth via radiation. The sun can only absorb a small fraction of solar energy; hence plenty of the radiated energy is reverberated back to space. Life on earth is dependent of the absorbed energy. More of its effects include tides, weather patterns and the earth's water cycle.
Plants use solar energy to make their own food, through a process called photosynthesis. This is the basic process that makes food available to all other living things. The sun is also responsible for the energy stored in fossils, as well as petroleum and coal.
Providing unlimited light and heat, the sun is the main source of energy to the earth. Extra applications of solar energy include lighting, generating electricity and in enhancing growth of plants in green houses. Considering all these factors, it is true to say that there can be no life on earth without the sun.
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