User:Cmurphytu/Sun's Layers

Layers of the Sun

The sun is one of the billions of stars located in our galaxy. While it seems to have no significance to the universe as a whole, to us here on earth, life as we know it would not be possible without it. This is because the sun is our primary source of energy. Even though the sun is 800,000 times bigger than Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, and accounts for about 99% of the mass in our solar system, it’s only considered a medium sized star. Now lets look at the structure of the sun. Edward Tarbuck, and Frederick Lutgens, authors of Earth Science 11th Edition, divide the sun into four parts. Those parts are the solar interior; the visible surface or photosphere; and the two layers of its atmosphere which are the chromosphere and the corona (pg 649-650). The photosphere, according to Tarbuck and Lutgens, is what radiates the light that we see. It is about 300 miles thick and is made up of incandescent gasses. This layer has a grainy texture. This is caused by the many granules which are relatively small bright markings that are surrounded by narrow dark regions. Theses granules are typically the size of Texas. Moving outward, the next layer is the chromosphere. Tarbuck and Lutgens tell us that it too is made up of hot, incandescent gasses. It is about 1,000 miles thick. Because of how bright the photosphere is, this layer can only be observed during a total solar eclipse. Under these conditions, it looks like a thin red rim around the sun. The hydrogen at high temperatures accounts for the red color. The corona is the outermost layer of the sun. It is about 600,000 miles thich and also can only be seen during a total solar eclipse. The temperature of this layer is around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of the extreme heat in this layer, the gas particles are ionized and begin to move fast enough to escape the gravity of the sun. This is what causes solar winds, which are the streams of protons and electrons that boil away from the corona. The last layer Tarbuck and Lutgens discuss is called the solar interior. This area can not be observed directly. Because of this fact, the only things we know about this layer is what we gather from the energy that it radiates and from theoretical studies. Here is where a nuclear reaction called proton-proton chain takes place. This process converts four hydrogen nuclei, or protons, into the nucleus of a helium atom. The byproduct of this process is energy because some of the matter involved is actually converted to energy. This process creates a tremendous amount of energy. For example, the authors state that conversion of just one pinhead’s worth of hydrogen to helium generates more energy than burning thousands of tons of coal. In this layer, the sun consumes around 600 million tons of hydrogen per second, with about 4 million tons being converted to energy.

References Tarbuck, Edward J. and Frederick K. Lutgens. Earth Science. Eleventh Edition. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.