By – Saanvi

Niya

THE SUN Abhijit

Abhishek
Aditi
Aadya
Aarav
AIM
To know more about the energy production and consumption of the
sun.
To be able to calculate the mass of the sun
To be able to calculate the luminosity of the sun
To be able to calculate how long the sun will shine
To know different layers of the sun
 OUR SUN
We see these balls of light all around the night sky. Stars are
actually luminous spheroids of plasma held together by self
gravity. It consists mostly of hydrogen and helium and small
amounts of other gases. Nuclear fusion reactions in their
core supports the star against its own gravity and produce
light and heat, as well as small amounts of heavier
elements. Our sun is the closest and the most important
star for us.
LIFE CYCLE OF A STAR
COMPOSITION OF THE SUN
Breaking down the Sun's light by wavelength allows astronomers to
identify the elements it contains. This portion of the solar spectrum shows
fingerprints of several elements in our star, including hydrogen, sodium, iron,
and calcium.
 SPECTROSCOPY
Spectroscopy is the study of the
absorption and emission of light
and other radiation by matter. It
involves the splitting of light (or
more precisely electromagnetic
radiation) into its constituent
wavelengths (a spectrum), which
is done in much the same way as
a prism splits light into a rainbow
of colours.
MASS OF THE SUN
The gravitational attraction between the Sun and the Earth is due
to the centripetal force which is causing the circular motion of the
Earth around the Sun. We can use Newton’s law of universal
gravitation to find the mass of the Sun.

=
=

G being gravitational constant,M-mass of sun,v-velocity of

earth around the sun,r- distance between sun and earth.
Substituting the values of the equation

So we get the mass of the sun as 1.989 x 1030kg approx

LUMINOSITY OF THE SUN
Luminosity is the total electromagnetic radiation of the sun and
Earth’s solar constant is the energy received per unit area. The
luminosity is related to Earth’s solar constant as well as area.
Formulas used-
The distance between sun and Earth is r=1.5× 1011m
The earths solar constant is 1361w/m2
After substituting the values we get

Hence luminosity is 3.83 x 1026 Watts/sec (approx)

HOW LONG WILL THE SUN
SHINE
Lifetime of a star is the fuel divided by consumption rate.
For example a car has a 80L tank and it consumes 10L per hour
then the car can move for 80/10=8hrs
The same way the total energy of the sun divided by
luminosity(energy per second) is the lifetime of the sun
T(age of sun)=E/L
IS THE FUEL COAL?
Astronomers first believed that the fuel of the sun was first coal!
To test this we would require the energy produced by one kilogram
of coal which is about 5 ×106 Joules.
If the sun was made entirely of coal the energy available is mass of
sun(2 ×1030 Joules)× energy produced by one kg of coal
The Luminosity of the sun is 4*1026 joules per second
Dividing energy by luminosity we get
 IS IT GRAVITATIONAL
ENERGY
Kelvin & Helmholz came up with another suggestion. The
gravitational energy of a spherical self gravitating body can be
shown (using calculus) to be.As the star collapses, it turns out that
one half of the gravitational energy goes into heating the star,
while the other half is radiated away. This is known as the “Viral
Theorem”. In terms of a formula this is:
j

Here G IS Gravitational constant and M is is mass of obect,R is radius of

the object
Using the formulae we get

Since scientists have found fossils dating over a billion years we know that this is not
possible.
IS IT NUCLEAR FUSION ?
We believe that the suns source of energy is nuclear fusion.4
Hydrogen atoms turn to 1 helium atom but the mass of one helium
atom is less then 4 hydrogen atoms. So the question is where did
this remaining mass go!
The mass somehow got converted into energy as showed in
Einstein’s theory

E being energy, m being mass and c being the speed of light

The mass of one hydrogen atom is 1.673 × 10-27 kg and that of one
helium atom is 6.645 × 10-27 kg.

So energy is-
 Only 0.7% of the hydrogen mass has been converted to energy.
One kilo-gram of hydrogen then produces:

Since the sun is 75% hydrogen the energy produced would be

the sun emits energy at a constant rate of L = 4 ×1026 W (or 4
×1026 J/sec) its life-time would be:

Through methods like radioactive dating of the oldest meteorites we can

estimate the current age of the sun to be about 5 billion years. it would be in its
main sequence stage for about 5billion more years.
 LAYERS OF THE SUN
Core -The Sun's core is the central region where nuclear
reactions consume hydrogen to form helium. These reactions
release the energy that ultimately leaves the surface as visible
light. These reactions are highly sensitive to temperature and
density. The individual hydrogen nuclei must collide with
enough energy to give a reasonable probability of overcoming
the repulsive electrical force between these two positively
charged particles. The temperature at the very center of the
Sun is about 15,000,000° C (27,000,000° F) and the density is
about 150 g/cm³ (approximately 10 times the density of gold,
19.3 g/cm³ or lead, 11.3 g/cm³). Both the temperature and the
density decrease as one moves outward from the center of the
Sun. The nuclear burning is almost completely shut off beyond
the outer edge of the core
The radiative zone extends outward from the outer edge of the core to the
interface layer or tachocline at the base of the convection zone (from 25% of the
distance to the surface to 70% of that distance). The radiative zone is
characterized by the method of energy transport - radiation. The energy
generated in the core is carried by light (photons) that bounces from particle to
particle through the radiative zone. Although the photons travel at the speed of
light, they bounce so many times through this dense material that an individual
photon takes about a million years to finally reach the interface layer. The
density drops from 20 g/cm³. The temperature falls from 7,000,000° C to about
2,000,000° C over the same distance.

Interface layer-The interface layer lies between the radiative zone

and the convective zone. The fluid motions found in the
convection zone slowly disappear from the top of this layer to its
bottom where the conditions match those of the calm radiative
zone.

The convection zone is the outer-most layer of the solar interior. It extends from a depth of about 200,000 km right
up to the visible surface. At the base of the convection zone the temperature is about 2,000,000° C. This is "cool"
enough for the heavier ions to retain their electrons This makes the material more opaque so that it is harder for
radiation to get through. This traps heat that ultimately makes the fluid unstable and it starts to "boil" or convect.
This convection of plasma is what causes the granules in the photosphere.
 Photosphere - The photosphere is the deepest
layer of the Sun that we can observe directly. It
reaches from the surface visible at the center of
the solar disk to about 250 miles (400 km) above
that. The temperature in the photosphere varies
between about 6500 K at the bottom and 4000 K
at the top (11,000 and 6700 degrees F, 6200 and
3700 degrees C). Most of the photosphere is
covered by granulation and sunspots. density of
about 3×10−4 kg/m3; increasing with depth into the sun.
A granule is a convection cell in the Sun's photosphere. They are caused by
convection currents of plasma in the Sun's convective zone, directly below the
photosphere. The grainy appearance of the solar photosphere is produced by
the tops of these convective cells and is called granulation.

Sunspots are areas that appear dark on the surface of

the Sun. They appear dark because they are cooler than
other parts of the Sun’s surface. The sun has electrically
charged gases that generate areas of powerful magnetic
forces. These areas are called magnetic fields. The
Sun’s gases are constantly moving, which tangles,
stretches and twists the magnetic fields.Leading to
sunspots.
Chromosphere - The chromosphere is a layer in the Sun between about 250 miles
(400 km) and 1300 miles (2100 km) above the solar surface (the photosphere). The
temperature in the chromosphere varies between about 4000 K at the bottom (the
so-called temperature minimum) and 8000 K at the top (6700 and 14,000 degrees F,
3700 and 7700 degrees C), so in this layer (and higher layers) it actually gets hotter
if you go further away from the Sun, unlike in the lower layers, where it gets hotter if
you go closer to the center of the Sun. The density of the Sun's chromosphere decreases
exponentially with distance from the center of the Sun by a factor of roughly 10 million, from
about 2×10−4 kg/m3 at the chromosphere's inner boundary to under 1.6×10−11 kg/m3 at the
outer boundary
Transition Region - The transition region is a very narrow (60 miles / 100 km) layer
between the chromosphere and the corona where the temperature rises abruptly
from about 8000 to about 500,000 K (14,000 to 900,000 degrees F, 7700 to 500,000
degrees C).
Corona - The corona is the outermost layer of the Sun, starting at about 1300 miles
(2100 km) above the solar surface (the photosphere). The temperature in the corona
is 500,000 K (900,000 degrees F, 500,000 degrees C) or more, up to a few million K.
The corona cannot be seen with the naked eye except during a total solar eclipse, or
with the use of a coronagraph. The corona does not have an upper limit. The density at
the base of the corona is about 4 × 108 atoms per cubic centimetre,
ROTATION
However, unlike Earth which rotates at all latitudes every 24 hours, the Sun
rotates every 25 days at the equator and takes progressively longer to
rotate at higher latitudes, up to 35 days at the poles. This is known as
differential rotation. The Sun rotates in the same direction as Earth.
This can be calculated by tracking a sun spot as the sun rotates
Example 1

10th march
7.6cm 2023

12.7cm
 13th march 2023
10.5cm
Distance travelled by sunspot
10.5-7.6=2.9cm
Time taken to move 2.9cm=3days
Total distance to travel is 12.7*2=25.4cm
Now 2.9cm:3days::25.4cm:x days
X=25.4 * 3
2.9
X= 26.27days
 0.9cm

13cm
Example
2 10th march
2023
3.4cm

13th march 2023

Distance travelled by sunspot
3.4-0.9=2.9cm
Time taken to move 2.5cm=3days
Total distance to travel is 13*2=26cm
Now 2.5cm:3days::26cm:x days
X=26 * 3
2.5
X= 31.2days
Thus the sun takes less time to rotate on the equator then the
poles.