01:750:109 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8.1: Nuclear Fusion, Spectroscopy, Nuclear Fission
Document Summary
Our sun is the nearest star, and provides virtually all the light and heat on earth. This section explores the basic properties of the sun ( how it generates energy and how the flow of energy determines the sun"s structure ) Sun shines with energy released through nuclear fusion in its core. More than 100x the radius of the earth. Even sunspots , which appear as dark splotches on the sun"s surface, can be larger in size than earth. Sun"s mass using newton"s version of kepler"s 3rd law is about 2 x 10 30 kg. Nearly 1000 times the combined mass of all the planets in our solar system. Sun"s immense size is matched by its enormous output of energy. It"s total power output, or luminosity , is 3. 8 x 10 26 watts. Only a small fraction of light radiated by the sun reaches earth.
