The Sun
The sun is the largest object in the solar system. It is a middle-sized star and there are many other stars out in the universe just like it. Even though it is only a middle-sized star it is large enough to hold over 1 million Earth’s inside if it were hollow. The temperature on the sun is far too much for any living thing to bear. On the surface it is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and the core is a stunning 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But don’t worry we are over 90,000 million miles away, the sun could never reach us, at least not yet. The sun is a still a middle aged star and later in its life it will become a Red Giant. In this stage it will get bigger, and closer to us causing a temperature increase and most likely the end of the world as we know it, but this will not take place for quite some time.
But the sun is not our enemy, if it weren’t for that big ball of burning gas there would be no life on this planet at all. We need its heat, its light, and its energy. Without these our planet would be frozen over like a big ice cube and there would be no signs or traces of life ever. In total amount the sun provides about 2 pounds of energy to us every day. Yes, that’s right only 2 pounds. The sun evaporates water from the earth’s lakes, streams, and rivers. It also heats the earth and cools the earth at the same time. Without the Earth’s atmosphere to protect us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays we would be toast. This is kind of how the greenhouse effect takes place. The greenhouse effect is when the atmosphere of the earth traps heat from the sun and lets sunlight heat plants, yet prevents much of the heat from getting out. In a similar way, the atmosphere lets sunlight through to the surface of the earth. The sunlight warms the earth, but the heat that created cannot easily pass back through the atmosphere into space.
Now what is going on in the sun? When we look up we just see a bright object that makes us warm, sometimes gives us sunburn and gives us light, on the contrary. The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees. The sun is so hot that everything on it is a gas. About 75% of the sun is made up of hydrogen, about 23% is helium and the remaining percent consist of iron, copper, aluminum, and about 70 more elements that are comm...
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... as Stonehenge, to see the suns shadow and tell the time of day. Ancient people also used the sun to tell directions, they knew that it rose in the east and set in the west everyday, and that one whole day was the time it took the sun to get from one edge of the horizon to the other. Ancient calendars were based on the phases of the moon. The phases occur because sunlight reflected by the moon is seen from different angles as the moon circles the earth. Even today the sun has an important role in surveying and navigating people. Surveyors can use the sun to calculate their own position and other positions on the earth.
Well, that about does it as a summary for the sun. Even though this essay may have brought out some true facts about the sun there is still much more to know about the sun. Some stuff we don’t even know about the sun and may never know, but what we do know is good. We know that it is the largest object in the solar system, it is the size of 1 million earth’s and it hotter than 27,000,000 in the core, now that’s cooking.
Bibliography
1. The World Book Encyclopedia, “sun” Robert W. Noyes
2. Why the sun shines
3. Science Book
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The very symbol of life – the elemental force of the Sun – is rendered
Momaday tells us a story of how the sun came to be. He writes about how a child becomes a woman and she becomes the wife of a man that has now become the sun.
The sensitive instruments aboard the SOHO spacecraft have already helped scientists here on Earth discover and explain some of the mysteries of the Sun as well as to confirm some of their theories they previously held. For example, in May of 1998 with the help of the Michelson Doppler Interferometer scientists were able to see with greater clarity the giant convective cells inside and on the surface of the Sun.
The sun has been a major aspect of life since the beginning of time. People used many other forms of energy before electricity was discovered. There has been a debate over energy resources for years. Many people are worried about what current energy resources may be doing to the environment. Oil spills and nuclear power plant mishaps have only been a few accidents that have had a big impact on the environment and the people who inhabit it. There are plenty of energy sources that do not harm the environment and are still able to get the job done. Solar energy is one energy alternative that will insure the betterment of the country and, at the same time, protect the natural environment.
Did you know that the sun’s core can reach about 15 million degrees Celsius? This bright star has many significant happenings. These interesting occurrences include sunspots, solar winds, coronal mass ejections, and solar flares. Sunspots are cool, dark-colored regions of the photosphere related to a shifting magnetic field inside the sun. However, sunspots are only dark in our perspective. A sunspot removed from the bright background of the Sun would glow brightly. Solar wind is the radiation of heat and a steady stream of charged particles. The wind blows about 450 kilometers a second throughout the solar system. Also, the Aurora Borealis occurs when highly charged particles from the sun's atmosphere move into the Earth's atmosphere via solar wind. Occasionally, particles will burst from the sun in a solar flare, which can disrupt satellite communications and knock out power on Earth. The flares are as powerful as millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time! Coronal mass ejections are huge bubbles of gas braided with magnetic field lines that are ejected from the Sun over the course of several hours. Coronal mass ejections are known to be formed by explosive reconfigurations of solar magnetic fields through the process of magnetic reconnection, however its exact formation mechanism is not yet understood.
The sun became the king of the universe and he was very bright so he could be seen from far and wide. The stars feared him and so again began to behave in an appropriate fashion. He also was very hot and warmed the once cold universe so that life would be possible.
People believe that the sun is the biggest, brightest star in the universe. In reality though, it is not. The sun is classified as a star, but there are many other stars out there that make the sun look like a dull grain of sand. The sun is very powerful though. It fuses hydrogen atoms into helium. This energy will allow the sun to give off a ton of light and heat for a long time. Since the sun can give off this much energy and heat just think how much more the other bigger stars give off. This leads us to the idea that the North Star, Polaris, is another star that is up there on the list of the “biggest and brightest”. While it is really bright, this is only because it is so close to us. Technically it is an average size star in a convenient spot for us to guide to.
Since the first Egyptian farmers discovered the annual reappearance of Sirius just before dawn a few days before the yearly rising of the Nile, ancient civilizations around the Mediterranean have sought to explain the movements of the heavens as a sort of calendar to help guide them conduct earthly activities. Counting phases of the moon or observing the annual variations of day length could, after many years' collection of observations, serve as vital indicators for planting and harvesting times, safe or stormy season for sailing, or time to bring the flocks from winter to summer pastures. With our millennia of such observation behind us, we sometimes forget that seeing and recording anything less obvious than the rough position of sun or nightly change of moon phase requires inventing both accurate observation tools (a stone circle, a gnomon used to indicate the sun's shadow, a means to measure the position of stars in the sky) and a system of recording that could be understood by others. The ancient Greeks struggled with these problems too, using both native technology and inquiry, and drawing upon the large body of observations and theories gradually gleaned from their older neighbors across the sea, Egypt and Babylonia. Gradually moving from a system of gods and divine powers ordering the world to a system of elements, mathematics, and physical laws, the Greeks slowly adapted old ideas to fit into a less supernatural, hyper-rational universe.
One cultural group was especially important for their discoveries in astronomy, the Egyptians. They were especially important because they were one of the first groups of people to create an accurate calendar. This calendar was different than others because it was based off of the Sun and stars rather than the moon. The calendars purpose was to make correct estimates of when to plan...
are livable. Energy from the sun warms the earth when its heat rays are absorbed by greenhouse
The Earth captures around 342 W/m2 of energy from the sun. This energy is in the form of solar radiation, which the atmosphere reflects about 77 W/m2 and will absorb around 68 W/m2 of solar radiation annually. Therefore, the Earth’s surface is receiving, on average, about 197 W/m2 of solar radiation annually. This amount of energy received is roughly more than 10,000 times the amount of all energy humans consume per year. This energy can be used to produce electricity or heat. This energy source is not being used to it’s potential considering how much effort would come into effect to store and transport this energy.
We need the sun for everything; food, transportation, education, and just to live. The sun negatively affects us in our daily lives because our skin is sensitive to the sun. This means that we are prone to burn. A way to protect our skin is with sunscreen. The short-term effect of not wearing sunscreen when exposed to the sun is you can get a painful rash or peeling of skin can occur. Long-term effects of not protecting yourself from the sun can be that it changes your DNA or gives you skin cancer. It changes your DNA by radiation smashing into you skin. The reason why this is so dangerous is because the DNA will now instruct the skin to fix itself because of the radiation, but the instructions would have been changed. It can also speed up