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How Energy Is Generated by The Sun

The Sun generates energy through nuclear fusion in its core. Hydrogen is fused into helium at a rate of 9.2x103 times per second, releasing energy at 4.26 million metric tons per second. This intense heat is transferred outward through the layers of the Sun - first through thermal radiation in the radioactive zone as photons are emitted and reabsorbed. In the convection zone, thermal convection occurs as hot plasma rises and cools at the photosphere before sinking back down. Energy finally escapes at the photosphere as sunlight.

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48 views2 pages

How Energy Is Generated by The Sun

The Sun generates energy through nuclear fusion in its core. Hydrogen is fused into helium at a rate of 9.2x103 times per second, releasing energy at 4.26 million metric tons per second. This intense heat is transferred outward through the layers of the Sun - first through thermal radiation in the radioactive zone as photons are emitted and reabsorbed. In the convection zone, thermal convection occurs as hot plasma rises and cools at the photosphere before sinking back down. Energy finally escapes at the photosphere as sunlight.

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kae7
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Suns extends from the center to about 0.25 of the solar radius.

It has a density of 150 g/cm and a temperature of close to


13,600,000 K. Energy is produced by nuclear fusion during a series of steps called the proton-proton(P-P) chain, converting hydrogen
to helium. The core is the only part of the Sun that produces an appreciable amount of heat through fusion(99 ). The rest of the star is
heated by the energy that is transferred outward from the core and the layers just outside. The energy must then travel through many
layers to the solar photosphere before it escapes into space as Kinetic energy(sunlight in this case). The P-P chain occurs around
9.210 times each second. Fusing hydrogen into helium releases around 0.7 of the fused mass as energy, so the Sun releases energy
at the mass-energy conversion rate 4.26 million metric tons per second.
The next layer of the Sun is the
radioactive zone. Here solar material
is hot and dense enough that thermal
radiation is all that is needed to
transfer
the intense heat outward.
There is no thermal convection. The
material grows cooler as altitude
increases. The temperature gradient is
less than the adiabatic lapse rate, so it
cannot drive convection. Heat is
transferred because ions of hydrogen
and
helium emit photons that
travel a small
distance and then
are
reabsorbed.
Next,
comes the convection zone. Here the solar plasma is not dense enough or hot
enough to transfer the heat of the interior through radiation. Thermal convection occurs
here as thermal columns carry hot materials to the next layer, the photosphere. Once the
materials cools off in the photosphere, it plunges back to the base of the convection zone
and receives more heat from the top of the radioactive zone. At the surface of the Sun,
the temperature has dropped to 5,700 K. the turbulent convection of the layer of the Sun
causes an effect that produces magnetic north and south poles all over the surface of the

HOW ENERGY IS
GENERATED BY
THE SUN

Lastly, the photosphere, the visible


surface of the Sun, is where visible
sunlight is free to propagate(move)
into space. The energy then washes
across the surface or atmosphere of
the bodies in the solar system. The
atmosphere on Earth filters some of
the UV rays but passes a portion of
that energy. The energy bounces off
of the surface and is then reflected
back by the atmosphere and some of
the energy was absorbed and our
planet is heated.

Sun.

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