From a biological point of view, all things grow by the energy of the sun. The energy of the sun brings light to mankind, the energy of the sun brings warmth to mankind, and the energy of the sun brings life to mankind. The relationship between the sun and humans couldn't be more intimate. Without the sun, there would be no day; without the sun, all living things would die. From an energy point of view, all kinds of energy depend on the energy of the sun. Whether it is coal, oil, natural gas, or wind and water power, energy comes directly or indirectly from the energy of the sun. All food eaten by human beings, whether animal or vegetable, contains the energy of the sun. It can be thought that the energy of the sun is the source of light and heat, and the energy of the sun is the source of all life phenomena on earth. Without the energy of the sun, there would be no human beings. At the same time, it can also be said that the energy of the sun is the source of everything on the earth, and the energy of the sun is the source of all energy on the earth. Without the sun, there would be no energy.
The energy of the sun is enormous, and it emits enormous amounts of light and heat without stopping.
The sun is a big, burning fireball that is extremely hot. As we all know, when water is heated to 100°C, it will boil. When the temperature in the steelmaking furnace reaches 1000°C, the iron block will melt into hot molten iron. If it continues to be heated to above 2450°C, the molten iron will become gas. The energy of the sun is much higher than the temperature in a steel furnace. The sun's surface temperature is 5570K (or 5497°C). It can be said that whatever is there will turn into gas. The energy of the sun inside is even higher. The theoretical calculation of astrophysics tells us that the central temperature of the sun is as high as 1.5× 107~2.0× 107°C, the pressure is more than 300 billion times higher than the atmospheric pressure, and the density is as high as 160g/cm3 , this is really an appalling high-temperature, high-pressure, high-density world.
The sun is the brightest star that shines into people's eyes and is called "the beacon of the universe". The scorching sun shines in the sky, making people dare not face it. For humans living on Earth, sunlight is the brightest of all natural light sources. So how bright is the sun? According to scientists' calculations, the energy of the sun is about 2. 5 × 1027 candles. It should also be pointed out here that there is an atmosphere that is more than 100 kilometers thick around the earth, which reduces the energy of the sun by about 20%. After correcting the effect of atmospheric absorption, the theoretical energy of the sun is even greater. The energy of the sun is about 3×1027candles.
Since the temperature of the sun is so high and the brightness of the sun is so great, the energy of the sun must also be great. On average, an area of 1m2 outside the Earth's atmosphere directly facing the Sun receives about 1367 J of solar energy per minute. This is a very important number, called the solar constant. This number may seem small on the surface, but it cannot be forgotten that the sun is 1.5×104km away from the earth, and its energy is only 1/2.2 billion to reach the earth. The energy of the entire sun released every second is extremely huge. The energy of the sun is as high as 3. 865 ×10126 J, which is equivalent to the energy emitted by burning 1. 32× 1016t standard coal per second.
The energy of the sun is generated from the core of the sun by thermonuclear reactions. The structure of the core of the sun can be divided into three broad zones: the production core area, the radiation energy transmission area and the convection area. The sun is actually an extremely huge factory powered by nuclear energy. Hydrogen is its fuel. Deep within the energy of the sun, the extremely high temperature and the enormous pressure of the layers above keep the nuclear reactions going on. This nuclear reaction is a thermonuclear fusion reaction in which hydrogen becomes helium. A hydrogen nucleus, through a series of nuclear reactions, becomes a helium nucleus, and the lost mass is converted into the energy of the sun and radiates into space. This kind of nuclear reaction that is going on continuously on the sun, the energy of the sun is like the explosion of a hydrogen bomb, which will generate huge energy. The energy it produces is equivalent to the explosion of 91 billion 106t TNT-class hydrogen bombs in 1 second, with a total radiation power of 3.75×1026w.
Read more: Solar energy on earth