How much energy can the sun provide?
According to the American Solar Energy Society, enough sunlight falls on the earth's surface each minute to meet world energy demand for an entire year.
One of lightning's many surprises
Lightning reaches 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, fours times as hot as the sun's surface. Yet, unlike high voltage electrical injuries with which massive internal tissue damage may occur, lightning seldom causes substantial burns.
What is the altitude of the sun relative to Earth ?
The altitude of the sun varies throughout the year. On December 21st (sometimes the 22nd) the sun is 20 degrees above the horizon, it's lowest point of the year. On June 21st (sometimes the 20th) the sun is 65 degrees above the horizon, it's highest point of the year.
Do you know what days these are? They are the winter & summer solstice.
How are rainbows made?
Rainbows are a result of the sun's white light being broken up into it's component colors through the prism of a raindrop. This division of white light into its component colors is called Dispersion. The light is often double-reflected on either side of the raindrop before exiting and headed your way.
The color of a light wave see depends on the frequency of the light wave entering your eyes.
This explains why we see the colors of a rainbow, but how come all the colors line up next to each other? Since different frequency light waves bounce and reflect differently meaning that the different colors line up coming at a slightly different angle from each other. (note: the frequency of a wave is the number of cycles of a wave to pass some point in one second. )
What is up with the sun?
The sun is 93,000,000 miles from earth. It takes the suns rays 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach the earth, traveling at a rate of 186,282 miles per second.
What are the most abundant chemicals in the universe and earth?
Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical in the universe and oxygen is the most abundant chemical element in the earths crust, water and atmosphere.
How long is a year?
The exact length of time for the earth to rotate around the sun is 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 46 seconds
Fun facts about venus
Venus is the second closest planet to the sun between Earth and Mercury. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.
How many species of bear are there?
There are eight living bear species: the American black bear, brown bear, polar bear, Asiatic black bear, sloth bear, sun bear, spectacled bear, and giant panda.
What is the smallest bear?
The sun bear of Southeast Asia is the smallest bear species and has an extremely long tongue for slurping honey and insects out of trees.
What did the Great Pyramid originally look like?
The Great Pyramid was originally covered in smooth, polished white limestone casing stones that made it shine in the sun. Most were later removed for other buildings.
Did Jonas Salk patent the polio vaccine?
Jonas Salk didn't patent his 1955 polio vaccine. When asked who owned it, he famously replied, "Could you patent the sun?"
Where does the sun not rise for two months?
Utqiaġvik, Alaska, has about two months of polar night each winter.
How much hydrogen does the Sun burn?
The Sun fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second.
Where was helium first discovered?
Helium was discovered in the Sun's light in 1868, decades before it was found on Earth.
How did helium get its name?
Helium is named after Helios, the Greek god of the Sun.
What is the Canticle of the Sun?
Saint Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of the Sun" is one of the earliest works of Italian literature.
How did Hemingway make Pamplona famous?
Ernest Hemingway's novel "The Sun Also Rises" made the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, famous.
What is the Greeting to the Sun?
Next to the Sea Organ is the "Greeting to the Sun," a solar-powered light installation.
What inspired Dalí's melting clocks?
Salvador Dalí said the melting clocks in "The Persistence of Memory" were inspired by Camembert cheese melting in the sun.
Do sunflowers follow the sun?
Young sunflowers track the sun across the sky, but mature sunflowers stop moving and face east.
Why was Galileo put on trial?
In 1633, Galileo was put on trial by the Catholic Church for supporting the idea that Earth orbits the Sun, and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
What did Galileo observe about Venus?
Galileo observed that Venus has phases like the Moon, evidence that it orbits the Sun.
Can you see the sunset twice at the Burj Khalifa?
Visitors can watch the sunset at the base of the Burj Khalifa, then ride the elevator up and see it again.
Who first proposed the Three Gorges Dam?
Sun Yat-sen proposed a dam on the Yangtze in 1919.
How much of the solar system's mass is in the Sun?
The Sun contains about 99.8% of all the mass in our solar system.
How long does sunlight take to reach Earth?
Sunlight takes about 8 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth, so we always see the Sun as it was a few minutes ago.
How many Earths could fit inside the Sun?
About 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the Sun.
How hot is the Sun's core?
The Sun's core is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius).
Why is the Sun's corona hotter than its surface?
The Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, is hundreds of times hotter than its surface, and scientists are still working out exactly why.
What color is the Sun?
The Sun is called a yellow dwarf, but it actually gives off white light. It looks yellow from Earth because of our atmosphere.
What is the fastest human-made object?
NASA's Parker Solar Probe became the fastest human-made object and flew closer to the Sun than any spacecraft before it, passing about 3.8 million miles from the surface in December 2024.
How old is the Sun?
The Sun is about 4.6 billion years old, roughly halfway through its life.
How long does light take to escape the Sun's core?
Energy made in the Sun's core can take tens of thousands of years or more to work its way to the surface.
What is the solar cycle?
The Sun goes through a cycle of about 11 years in which its activity rises and falls.
Is Mercury the hottest planet?
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, but Venus is hotter.
What is a transit of Mercury?
A transit of Mercury happens when Mercury passes in front of the Sun as seen from Earth.
Does Venus spin backward?
Venus spins backward compared with most planets, so on Venus the Sun rises in the west.
Why does Uranus spin on its side?
Uranus is tilted about 98 degrees, so it basically rolls around the Sun on its side.
What is the farthest planet from the Sun?
Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun.
Has Pluto completed an orbit since it was discovered?
Pluto takes about 248 Earth years to orbit the Sun, so it hasn't completed a full orbit since it was discovered.
Is Pluto ever closer than Neptune?
Pluto was closer to the Sun than Neptune from 1979 to 1999.
What is at the center of the Milky Way?
A supermassive black hole called Sagittarius A*, about 4 million times the mass of the Sun, sits at the center of the Milky Way, and its first image was released in 2022.
Would Earth get sucked in if the Sun became a black hole?
If the Sun were replaced by a black hole of the same mass, Earth's orbit wouldn't change.
How heavy is the Aztec Sun Stone?
The Aztec Sun Stone weighs about 24 tons.
What were Viking sunstones?
Vikings may have used crystals called sunstones to find the Sun on cloudy days.