The sun is a big ball of gas and plasma, however what is the sun made from precisely? The majority of the gas– around 92%– is hydrogen, according to NASA. It is converted into energy in the suns core. The energy moves outside through the interior layers, into the suns atmosphere, and is released into the solar system as heat and light.Nuclear fusionIn the suns core, gravitational forces create remarkable pressure and temperature levels. The temperature level of the sun in this layer has to do with 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius). Hydrogen atoms are compressed and fuse together, creating helium. This procedure is called nuclear combination. As the gases heat up, atoms break apart into charged particles, turning the gas into plasma.The energy, mostly in the type of gamma-ray photons and neutrinos, is carried into the radiative zone. Photons can bounce around at random in this zone from someplace between a few thousand to about a million years before traveling to the surface area, according to Sten Odenwald on NASAs Ask the Space Scientist page.Why dont we understand for how long it considers a photon to take a trip outside from the center of the sun? For something, researchers cant see into the core to track a photon from its birth. Instead, they need to rely on designs that follow the infamous “drunkards walk” issue. According to this situation, the range an inebriated individual travels while making random left and best turns is their normal step size times the square root of the variety of steps taken. For a randomly taking a trip photon in the solar center, this depends on what is used for the mean totally free path (or average distance travel) of radiation. These numbers vary from 4,000 years to countless years, though most solar researchers tend to rely on 170,000 years, according to the book Welcome to deep space: An Astrophysical Tour.Four hydrogen nuclei combine to launch a helium nucleus. (Image credit: Getty Images)” Photons go on a random walk within the sun,” area researcher Lucie Green, a teacher at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Space.com. “I would say 170,000 years for photon to escape.”” Most astronomers are not too interested in this number and give up trying to pin it down exactly since it does not affect any phenomena we measure with the exception of the residential or commercial properties of the core region today,” Odenwald said.Scientists believe the suns electromagnetic field is generated by a magnetic eager beaver in the radiative zone.The convection zone (likewise known as the convective region) is the outer layer of the suns interior. It extends from about 125,000 miles (200,000 km) deep up to the visible surface area or the suns environment, according to NASA. The temperature level drops below 3.5 million degrees F (2 million degrees C) in the convective zone, where hot plasma bubbles up towards the surface.This image shows the suns 3 major zones (convective zone, radiative zone and core). (Image credit: ESA&NASA/ SOHO) The convective movements carry heat quite rapidly to the surface, which is the bottom layer of the suns environment, or photosphere. This is the layer where the energy is released as sunshine. The light go through the outer layers of the suns environment– the chromosphere and the corona. We typically cant see these layers, but during a total solar eclipse, the chromosphere looks like a red rim around the sun, and the corona forms a white crown with plasma streamers spreading outward. The chromosphere gets its red color from the abundance of hydrogen, according to the National Solar Observatory.Abundance of elementsAstronomers who have studied the composition of the sun have catalogued 67 chemical components in the sun. There may be more, but in amounts too little for instruments to spot. Here is a table of the 10 most common elements in the sun, according to NASA Goddard Space Flight:
Additional resourcesFor more details about the sun, checked out NASA Sciences Solar System Exploration page. Furthermore, you can discover the responses to more concerns about the sun at the Natural History Museum UK website.Bibliography” On the photon diffusion time scale for the sun”. Solar Physics (2003 ).
ElementAbundance (pct.of overall numberof atoms) Abundance( pct. of total mass) Hydrogen91.2 71.0 Helium8.7 27.1 Oxygen0.078 0.97 Carbon0.043 0.40 Nitrogen0.0088 0.096 Silicon0.0045 0.099 Magnesium0.0038 0.076 Neon0.0035 0.058 Iron0.030 0.014 Sulfur0.015 0.040.
The sun is a big ball of gas and plasma, but what is the sun made of precisely? The energy moves outside through the interior layers, into the suns environment, and is launched into the solar system as heat and light.Nuclear fusionIn the suns core, gravitational forces produce significant pressure and temperatures.” Most astronomers are not too interested in this number and forgo attempting to pin it down exactly due to the fact that it does not impact any phenomena we determine with the exception of the residential or commercial properties of the core area right now,” Odenwald said.Scientists believe the suns magnetic field is created by a magnetic dynamo in the radiative zone.The convection zone (likewise understood as the convective area) is the outer layer of the suns interior. The chromosphere gets its red color from the abundance of hydrogen, according to the National Solar Observatory.Abundance of elementsAstronomers who have actually studied the composition of the sun have actually catalogued 67 chemical aspects in the sun. Furthermore, you can discover the answers to more questions about the sun at the Natural History Museum UK website.Bibliography” On the photon diffusion time scale for the sun”.
