Transcript The Sun - My CCSD

ON YOUR BLUE SHEET
What is the sun made of???
Write down a couple of facts you
know about our Sun
 Sun is an ordinary star
Sunny Facts
 Center of our solar system
making life possible on
Earth
 An enormous ball of gas
fusing hydrogen into
helium in its core
 Energy produced travels
outward through
radiation and convection
zone where it swirls and
then emitted into space
Sun’s Atmosphere
 Photosphere is the
lowest layer of sun’s
atmosphere and
where light is given
off
 Temperature is
about 6,000 K
 Chromosphere is
above photosphere
and 2,000 km thick
 Corona is between
Sun’s Atmosphere
2,000 km and 10,000
km above the
photosphere
 Largest layer of the
Sun’s atmosphere
extending millions of
km into space
 Temperatures reach
as high as 2 million K
 Charged particles
escape as solar wind
Suns Processes
 Thermonuclear fusion: two
or more atomic nuclei
collide at a very high speed
and join to form a new type
of atomic nucleus.
 Radiation: energy that
comes from a source and
travels through some
material or through space
 Convection: transfer of
heat from one place to
another by the movement
of fluids
 Using the diagram
1. Where in the sun does nuclear
fusion occur?
2. What conditions in this part of
the sun’s interior causes nuclear
fusion to happen?
3. How does the energy produced
by nuclear fusion escape the sun?
4. How does energy move through
the sun’s radiative zone?
5. What function does the sun’s
convective zone perform?
Surface Features
 Sunspots appear as dark
areas on Sun because
they are cooler
 Lasts days, weeks, or
months
 Observing sunspots led
to the discovery that the
sun rotates on an axis
Surface Features
 Rotation at equator
takes 25 days and at
poles 33 days
 Sunspots are cyclical
with maximum activity
every 10 to 11 years
Surface Features
 Magnetic fields at
sunspots may cause
Prominences on Sun’s
surface
 Huge arched columns
of gas blasted into
space 600 km/s to
1,000 km/s
 At times violent
eruptions at sunspots
cause Solar Flares to
shoot outward at high
speeds
Surface Features
 Coronal Mass Ejections
(CME) occurs during
maximum sunspot activity
 Appears as a halo around
the sun
 High solar winds,
Ultraviolet light and X-rays
can reach Earth and cause
problems with radio
signals
 Ionized gas causes aurora
on Earth at poles