AST101H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Nuclear Fission, Convection Zone, Photosphere
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AST101H1 Full Course Notes
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Diameter: 1 million km (109 times diameter of earth) Mass: 2 million trillion trillion kg (300,000 times mass of earth) Composition: 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1% oxygen, 0. 4% carbon. Rotation rate: 25 days (equator) to 30 days (poles) Temperature: 5500 c (average), 3700 c (sunspots), 15million c (centre) Inner structure: inner core, radiative zone, convection zone. Nuclear reactions enough fuel for 10 billion years. Light and heat travel outward from core. Lots of churning: hot gas rising, cool gas falling. Surface of sun (changes from transparent to opaque) Granulated, hot air rising, dark areas sinking. Halo of gas above photosphere and chromosphere. Seen only during total eclipse of the sun. Electrons in atoms/molecules change to new partners -> releases energy. Nuclei combine or split apart, electrons just observe. Possibilities like chemical reactions and gradual contraction can"t provide energy for billions of years. Very hard to make happen (protons fiercely repel)