Download Sun 2013

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The Sun
Sun Facts
Makes life on our planet possible by giving us
great amounts of light and heat
Contains about 98% of the mass of the entire
Solar System.
Is just a medium sized star (yellow dwarf).
Is the center of our Solar System. All the
planets and other objects orbit around it.
Contains dark spots that are known as
Sun Facts
• The Sun is a ball of hot gases: mostly
hydrogen and helium
• The average distance from the Earth to the
Sun is 93,000,000 miles.
• It takes light eight and a half minutes to travel
from the Sun to the Earth.
• The diameter of the Sun is 870,000 miles,
109 times larger than the Earth's. Its volume
is big enough to hold over 1 million Earths.
Interior of the Sun
• Core
• Radiation Zone
• Convection Zone
Interior of the Sun
• Core
– Energy is produced in the core by nuclear
fusion
– Nuclear Fusion is the process of
hydrogen atoms joining together to form
helium
– Very extreme temperatures at the core
Nuclear Fusion
• The Sun converts 600 million tons of
hydrogen into 596 million tons of
helium every second. The extra 4
million tons is converted into energy
Radiation Zone
• Middle layer
• Energy is transferred in the form of
electromagnetic radiation
Convection Zone
• Outermost layer
• Temperature of gases cool as it reaches
the top of the convection zone
• Convection*** Remember this term????
• Heat transfer through a fluid (gases are
fluids)
Sun’s Atmosphere
• Photosphere
• Chromosphere
• Corona
Photosphere
• Inner layer of sun’s atmosphere
• Photo=light
• Sphere that gives off visible light
Chromosphere
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Middle layer of sun’s atmosphere
Chroma=color
Color sphere
Reddish glow
Corona
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White halo around the sun
Corona=crown
Seen during a total solar eclipse
Outer layer of sun’s atmosphere
Corona extends into space for millions
of kilometers and gradually thins into
streams of electrically charges particles
called the solar wind
Solar Wind=1 million mph
• The source of the solar wind is the
Sun's hot corona. The temperature of
the corona is so high that the Sun's
gravity cannot hold on to it.
• Solar flares can greatly increase the
solar wind from the corona=increase in
the number of particles reaching Earth’s
upper atmosphere
Features on the Sun
• Sunspots
• Prominences
• Solar Flares
Sunspots
• Dark spots on the sun’s surface
• Areas of gas on the sun’s surface that
are cooler than the gases around them
• Cooler gases don’t give off as much
light as hotter gases
• The number of sunspots varies over a
period of about 11 years
• Increase in sunspot activity=Increase
in magnetic storms
Prominence
• Reddish loops of gas that often link
different parts of sunspot region
Solar Flares
• Eruptions of magnetic energy
Auroras
• When particles enter they create
powerful electric currents that cause
gas molecules to glow=auroras
• Solar wind particles can also affect
Earth’s magnetic field, causing
magnetic storms
• Magnetic storms can disrupt radio,
telephone, and TV signals