NATS 1840 Lecture Notes - White Dwarf, Protestantism, Electromagnetic Spectrum
24 Feb 2014
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Document Summary
All of the energy available on earth comes to us from the sun. The suns power output varies continuously, but with some regularity. 11-year sunspot cycle is correlated with solar output. Brightness (output) is on a long term increasing trend; has probably risen by 25% since the protestant phase. When the supply of hydrogen to be burned runs out, the sun will die out and become a white dwarf in about 5 billion years. Lithosphere: solid rock crust floating on a liquid interior. Hydrophere: temperature allows liquid water (71% of surface) The earth intercepts only a tiny fraction of the suns total power output: an average of about. 1360 w/m (the solar insolation) at the top edge of the atmosphere. Most of this energy is delivered in the form of visible light. The amount of solar energy that reaches the surface and is absorbed by the planet also depends on:
