Life above your head, or What is the Sun?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

We are all accustomed to seeing a bright celestial body every day, giving us warmth and light. But does everyone know what the Sun is? How does it work and what is it like?

The Sun is the closest star to the Earth, it occupies a central place in the solar system. It is a huge hot gas ball (mostly hydrogen). The size of this star is so large that it could easily accommodate a million planets like ours.

The sun played a decisive role in the development of life on our planet and created the conditions for the formation of other bodies in its system. Observation of the Sun has always been an important occupation. People have always been aware of its life-giving power, they also used it to calculate time. Interest in solar energy and its possibilities is growing every day. Solar heating with collectors is becoming more and more popular. Considering natural gas prices, this free alternative seems even more enticing.

What is the Sun? Has it always existed?

It shines, as scientists have found out, for many millions of years andarose along with the rest of the planets of the system from a huge cloud of dust and gas. The spherical cloud contracted and its rotation intensified, then it turned into a disk (under the influence of centrifugal forces). All the matter of the cloud has shifted to the center of this disk, forming a ball. This is probably how the Sun was born. It was cold at first, but the constant contraction made it gradually hotter.

It is very difficult to imagine what the Sun really is. At the center of this massive self-luminous body, the temperature reaches 15,000,000 degrees. The radiating surface is called the photosphere. It has a granular (granular) structure. Each such “grain” is a red-hot substance the size of Germany that has risen to the surface. Dark areas (sunspots) can often be observed on the surface of the Sun.

Fusion reactions in the Sun release an unimaginable amount of energy that is radiated into space in the form of light and heat. In addition, an incredible solar wind (particle stream) rushes from here.

Without the Sun, there would be no life on our planet. But along with heat and light, it also emits other types of energy, such as x-rays and ultraviolet rays, which pose a threat to all living things. The ozone layer protects us by blocking out most of the dangerous rays, but still some of them pass, as evidenced by the tan on our skin.

The most powerful manifestation of solar activity is a flare. In fact, this is an explosion caused by a plasma substance under the influence of magneticfields. Although flares have not yet been studied in detail, their occurrence is definitely electromagnetic in nature.

Even preschoolers know what the Sun is. But few people even think about the large-scale processes that take place on this fireball every second. The sun won't always be like this. Its fuel supply is about 10 billion years. To find out how much more it will warm us and shine on us, it is necessary to clarify what part of his life he has already lived. Moon rocks and meteorites are no more than 5 billion years old, which means that the age of the Sun is the same.

It used to be thought that it would just slowly fade away and cool down. Now we have found out that this process will not be calm and quiet, a real death agony awaits the “dying” star. When the core is completely burned, the fire will begin to devour the outer solar layers. The sun will turn into a massive red star that will devour Venus and Mercury and heat the Earth to incredible temperatures. The water will evaporate, life will cease to exist. Then there will be a new energy source in the outer layers of the Sun - from helium. The shell will fall, the core will shrink to the state of a white dwarf.