ASTR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 28: Potential Energy, Gravitational Energy, Gravitational Collapse
12 Dec 2017
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There is enough collapse that its turning thermal energy to. The sun can be powered by nuclear energy. Nuclear potential energy (core) ~ 10 billion years. Energy supplied by fusion maintains the pressure that balances the inward crush of gravity. Provided the energy that heated the core as sun was forming contraction stopped when fusion began. U(cid:374)"s stru(cid:272)ture surrounded by solar wind: not at all like wind in our own atmosphere incredibly energetic it is plasma that is being ejected at incredibly high speeds, very low density material. Not as fast as the speed of light. A flow of charged particles from the surface of the sun. Energy transported upward by rising hot gas. Anything below it like a boiling pot: energy comes from underneath it, heat is being transferred from under layer to upper layer. Any hotter fluid has a higher density. From inside out: core radiation zone convection zone.
