The Heart of our Solar System

Ever wondered what that weird Yellow-Orange orb of light is, in the sky? Honestly, this question was better for the cavemen who never thought of what it was. That immensely giant blob of cosmic radiation and extremely hot chemical reactions is called the Sun.

Even though we see it every-'day' (pun intended), do we really understand the important role it plays in our lives?

If we look at it (not to stare directly at it, please), it seems like the size of a marble. But in reality, the Sun is as much bigger than the earth, as the earth is to a tennis ball. You could also say that approximately 1.3 million earths can fit inside the sun if the sun was hollow.

An important and interesting fact is that the Sun takes around 27 earth-days to complete one rotation on its own axis. You may think how did we calculate this? We didn't 😁

We just noticed the black spots on the sun moving in one direction, and observed how many days it took to complete one rotation.

Layers of the Sun

Just like the Earth, the sun comprises of many layers, and going from the surface of the sun to the core, the temperature increases exponentially. In simple terms, the Sun has four main layers:

Core: At the center, where nuclear fusion occurs, producing immense heat and light.

Radiative Zone: Surrounding the core, where energy generated in the core gradually moves outward through radiation.

Convective Zone: Above the radiative zone, where hot material rises and cooler material sinks, creating convection currents.

Photosphere: The visible surface of the Sun, emitting light and heat, and where sunspots are observed.

These layers work together to produce the Sun's energy and maintain its stability.

Magnetic Field

You may or may not have heard, that the magnetic field around the earth protects us from external Radiations from the universe, as well as from our sun. But did you know that the sun also protects us from much more dangerous cosmic radiations, from other larger suns and Solar Winds?

Yes! the Sun has its own magnetic field around it:

The Sun's Energy

The Sun is a mixture of Helium and Hydrogen molecules, constantly and rapidly reacting with each other, producing a mind-boggling amount of energy. Although you might not be able to comprehend it, it produces energy equivalent to billions and billions of atomic bombs within a second, and it has been doing this for millions of years.

Gravitational Pull

An interesting fact to be noted, is that because the sun releases so much energy, it must mean it also has a lot of mass. That is the sole reason why the sun has such strong gravity that it makes almost 9 planets revolve around it (8 planets, if we exclude Pluto).

As compared to the pull of a Black Hole, the sun's gravity is quite weak, but it is enough to still bend even light. For example, if there was another smaller star behind our sun, much farther away........we would still be able to see it.

Renewable Energy

In the current era, the most amazing invention that makes use of the radiation being emitted from the sun, is the Solar Panels. They take the radiation that strikes the surface of the solar cells present in the panels and converts it into electric current which we can use in almost every electrical appliance.

It's actually quite useful since the sun is giving off free energy for anyone to use and it supports many other methods of creating clean energy as well, like Wind Turbines. This is because the earth heats up due to the thermal energy from the sun. This makes the hot air rise up and the cold air comes to take place of the hot air. This movement of air causes the wings of the turbines to move and turn Mechanical Energy into Electrical Energy.

Agriculture

Of course, Electricity isn't the only thing that keeps us alive, we need food as well. This Celestial Object plays a vital role in the growth of Plants such as fruits, vegetables; flora that can be consumed. If we take a step back, we can see that this is done solely due to the plants' ability to convert the sun's radiation into a form of consumable energy for themselves using Photosynthesis and for the purpose of growing berries, fruits, vegetables, pulses, berries etc. Not only that but they also use this characteristic to convert Carbon dioxide into breathable Oxygen.

Salt

You must be wondering what connection Salt has with the Sun. Well, as you may know, the Sea Water is actually quite salty in nature.......................

Yup, you guessed it. A large volume of Sea Water is gathered into a huge pond, and it is dried using the heat of the sun. after most of the water has evaporated, the leftover salt crystals are collected and cleaned for consumption. This methodology is known as
Desalination. It also helps us to separate the salt from water so that pure fresh water can be provided to people in need.