Space & Earth Science Chapter 4: The Sun

proto-star

a huge, dark ball of gas that eventually accumulates enough mass that the crushing gravitational force at the center it is able to ignite the fusion process within the star; Eagle Nebula; "stellar nursery"

photons

a packet of electromagnetic energy containing an amount of energy related to its wavelength

the sun's location

a spiral arm of the galaxy, about three-fifths of the distance from the center to the edge

bright-line spectrum

a unique pattern of spectrum lines produced directly by light emitted by an object

Milky Way galaxy

a vast, disk-shaped assemblage of stars that slowly turn like a giant pinwheel

how long it takes the sun to rotate at the equator

about 25 days

the sun's diameter

approximately 1.4 million kilometers (868,000 miles)

in what form is about 93% of the sun's energy emitted

electromagnetic waves

convective zone

extends from roughly seven-tenths of the sun's radius to the surface; heats plasma that rises to the surface of the photosphere as granules

thermonuclear reactions

generate the sun's energy

neutrinos

how the other 7% of the sun's energy is emitted; tiny particles that apparently travel at the speed of light and can easily penetrate ordinary matter light-years in thickness

"the greater light to rule the day"

name for the sun in Genesis 1:16

how many degrees is the sun's tilt

7 degrees from the ecliptic plane

penumbra

a brighter, outer portion of a sunspot

plages

"clouds" of plasma that emit light in a single or just a few wavelengths (located in the chromosphere)

the sun's distance from earth

150 million kilometers (93 million miles)

umbra

a dark, inner portion of a sunspot

solar wind

a flow of mostly protons and electrons from the sun; a continuation of the corona into space well beyond the orbit of Pluto

continuous spectrum

a full spectrum of colors that can be seen because the lines are so close together

spectrum

all the wavelengths that make up light; the wavelengths that compose the light from an object

coronal mas ejection (CME)

an extremely large mass of particles that can be discharged in a CME; are the most damaging solar flares to satellites and systems on Earth

spectroscope

an instrument used to identify specific colors (wavelengths) in light; separates the light coming from stars by recording the object's spectrum; allows astronomers to determine what elements are present and also indicates how much of an element is present in the star

eruptive prominences

are apparently caused by changes in the local magnetic fields and last for only a few hours

why is nearly all matter in the solar system in a plasma state

because the sun is over 99% of the solar system's matter, and the sun is mostly made up of plasma

why sunspots appear dark

because they are cooler than the surrounding photosphere

solar energy

can be especially useful for hearing water and for heating and cooling homes; has been most successfully applied to heating buildings

dark-line spectrum

can be seen when particular wavelengths are absorbed by gaseous elements between the source and the spectroscope

photovoltaic, or PV cells

can convert light directly to electricity; a flat wafer like device that can be manufactured in a variety of sizes

advantages of solar energy

can never be depleted as long as the sun shines; freely available to all (even though equipment is expensive); high- quality energy; has no polluting waste products; safe to use

aurora borealis (northern lights) and aurora australis (southern lights)

caused by particles from the solar flare weakening the earth's magnetic field and colliding with atoms in the earth's atmosphere

why does the sun appear yellow

colors toward the middle of the spectrum are more intense than those toward the ends of the spectrum, the human eye is most sensitive toward the middle of the spectrum- so yellow is the color that we see best, and visible light, especially yellow, is the light our atmosphere allows to pass most easily

the sun and all the other stars

created on the fourth day of creation

problems with the evolutionary theory of star origins

gasses naturally tend to disperse, not concentrate into a dense mass; the likelihood of such a convenient supernova occurring is extremely unlikely; evolutionists have a problem explaining where the first stars came from, since there were no preexisting stars to from supernovas in order to start the proto-star evolution

diffraction grating

how wavelengths are separated in most modern spectroscopes; a thin plate of glass or plastic containing thousands of microscopic lines ruled or molded onto the transparent surface (separates light into its different wavelengths)

disadvantages of solar energy

it is diffuse (not concentrated); collectors of solar energy must have large surface areas; must be sunny- not cloudy; not available at night

ionosphere

layer of ionized gas particles that have one or more electrons removed from their atoms following collisions with high-energy particles from space (mostly from the sun); effective in reflecting shortwave radio signals transmitted from Earth back toward earth's surface

semiconductor materials

materials that conduct electricity under certain conditions; elements from which computer microprocessor and memory chips are fabricated

what have been identified in the sun

more than 60 naturally occurring elements

spicules

numerous pointed jets of plasma

Johannes Fabricius

observed sunspots around AD 1611 using a telescope and a camera obscure

how much of the solar system's matter is in the sun

over 99% of all the matter in the entire solar system

faculae

plages that emit light in enough different wavelengths to appear white in photographs

coronagraph

produces a artificial eclipse (a total solar eclipse) in order to observe either part of the sun's atmosphere

particles that accompany solar flares

protons (positively charges atoms) and electrons (negatively charged atoms)

nuclear fusion

releases tremendous amounts of energy

magnetic energy

seems to be specifically associated with or could even be the cause of sunspot activity

solar flares

severe storms on the sun; a sudden energetic outburst of the sun's matter that emits both rays and particles

what two things on earth are most likely to be affected by sunspot activity

shortwave radio transmissions and weather

sunspots

small, dark areas that appear on the sun's surface; they move from west to east; the observation that sunspots disappear at the western limb (edge) reappears the eastern limb in about two weeks- this observation shows that the sun is rotating

quiescent prominences

smaller and seem to hang in the corona for up to several days, supported by magnetic loops

prominence

streams of material that appear to rise into the corona from the chromosphere and then gradually fall back

complete sunspot cycle

takes 22 years

line spectra

the "signature", or pattern of lines that each pure substance has

wavelength

the distance from the crest (top) of one wave to the crest of the next

core

the innermost part of the sun; where thermonuclear reactions occur

chromosphere (thin) (invisible)

the middle layer of the sun's atmosphere (immediately above the photosphere)

why the moon appears to be the same size of the sun

the moon is 400 times closer to earth than the sun

hydrogen

the most abundant element in the sun

corona (extensive) (invisible)

the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere (begins at the top of the chromosphere and continues outward from the sun for millions of kilometers in all directions)

helium

the second most abundant element in the sun; was discovered on the sun before it was discovered on earth

what proves that the sun is degenerating

the sun loses about 6 million tons of matter per second

what is the sun's atmosphere compared to the sun's surface

the sun's atmosphere is hotter than the sun's surface

sunspot cycle

the time between years of maximum sunspots (11 years)

pressure

the total amount of force (a push) exerted over a standard area

photosphere

the visible surface of the sun; divided into small cells called granules

hydrogen and helium

they make up about 98% of the sun's mass

granules

what the sun's surface is divided into; typically 700 to 1000 km. in diameter and lasts for about 8 minutes; hot masses of plasma rising from the sun's interior to the surface

plasma

what the sun's surface is made up of; superheated ionized matter than cannot be classified as a solid, liquid, or gas

radiative zone

where fusion energy travels outward through electromagnetic waves

radiation (from solar flares)

x-rays and extreme ultraviolet rays that temporarily destroy portions of the ionosphere and disrupt a variety of ground-based radio communications