What electromagnetic wave is Sun?
All of the energy from the Sun that reaches the Earth arrives as solar radiation, part of a large collection of energy called the electromagnetic radiation spectrum. Solar radiation includes visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared, radio waves, X-rays, and gamma rays.
What spectrum is the sun’s radiation on?
Our Sun emits light at progressively shorter wavelengths, too: the ultraviolet, X-ray, and even gamma-ray parts of the spectrum. But most of the Sun’s light is in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
What part of the sun does the electromagnetic spectrum come from?
Visible light, for example, comes from the photosphere (or surface) whereas most infrared light comes from the lower chromosphere just above. Much of the high-energy UV and X-ray photons come from the Sun’s outer atmosphere (called the corona).
What does electromagnetic radiation from the sun do?
When electromagnetic radiation from the Sun strikes the Earth’s atmosphere, some of it is absorbed while the rest proceed to the Earth’s surface. In particular, UV is absorbed by the ozone layer and re-emitted as heat, eventually heating up the stratosphere.
How does the sun heat Earth?
The sun heats the earth through radiation. Since there is no medium (like the gas in our atmosphere) in space, radiation is the primary way that heat travels in space. When the heat reaches the earth it warms the molecules of the atmosphere, and they warm other molecules and so on.
How is solar radiation measured?
pyranometer
Solar radiance measurements consist of global and/or direct radiation measurements taken periodically throughout the day. The measurements are taken using either a pyranometer (measuring global radiation) and/or a pyrheliometer (measuring direct radiation).
How does the Sun produce radiation?
Radiation from the Sun The sun gets its energy from the process of nuclear fusion. This energy eventually makes its way to the outer regions of the sun and is radiated or emitted away in the form of energy, known as electromagnetic radiation. A particle of electromagnetic radiation is known as a photon.
What types of electromagnetic radiation are most common in sunlight?
Though the sun emits all of the different kinds of electromagnetic radiation, 99% of its rays are in the form of visible light, ultraviolet rays, and infrared rays (also known as heat).
How electromagnetic waves are produced in sun?
The Sun is made of plasma, which is a gas of bare ions and electrons. The energy released from nuclear fusion heats this plasma, and the moving charges emit electromagnetic waves.
What causes heat from the sun?
The core of the sun is so hot and there is so much pressure, nuclear fusion takes place: hydrogen is changed to helium. Nuclear fusion creates heat and photons (light). The amount of solar heat and light is enough to light up Earth’s days and keep our planet warm enough to support life.
Why is outer space called the electromagnetic spectrum?
Contrary to popular belief, outer space is not empty space. It is filled with electro- magnetic radiation that crisscrosses the universe. This radiation comprises the spectrum of energy ranging from radio waves on one end to gamma rays on the other. It is called the electromagnetic spectrum because this radiation is associat-
How are waves and particles related to electromagnetic radiation?
Electromagnetic radiation has properties of both waves and particles. What we detect depends on the method we use to study it. The beautiful colors that appear in a soap film or in the dispersion of light from a diamond are best described as waves.
What is the speed at which radio waves travel?
These waves travel at the speed of light—300,000 kilo- meters per second. Their wavelengths, the dis- tance from wave crest to wave crest, vary from thousands of kilometers across (in the case of the longest radio waves) to fractions of a nanometer, in the cases of the smallest x-rays and gamma rays.
What is the wavelength of one electron volt?
It works out that one electron volt has a wavelength of about 0.0001 centimeters. X-rays range from 100 elec- tron volts (100 eV) to thousands of electron volts. Gamma rays range from thousands of elec- tron volts to billions of electron volts.