How does energy generated in the solar core eventually reach Earth?
2 Answers
THe Gama rays produced in the core of Sun gets out from Sun .
Explanation:
It changes into infra red and visible light small amount UV radiation are all electro magnetic waves.They can travel through the vacuum of space and reaches Earths' atmosphere. Irt takes a very long time for the Gama rays to get out through different layers of Sun.,But once outside it travels at speed of light and reaches earth in about 8.2 seconds.
Photons generated in the Sun's core take a long and complex path to reach Earth.
Explanation:
The fusion reactions in the Sun's core generate energy in the form of heat, gamma rays and neutrinos.
The gamma rays can take up to a million years to leave the Sun's core. The reason for this is that the photon only travel a short distance before being absorbed and re-emitted by particles in the core.
The absorbing and re-emission process changes the frequency of photons. Once at the surface of the Sun most of the photons have a range of frequencies and it is effectively white light in the infra-red, visible and ultra-violet.
Light emitted from the Sun's surface can then travel at the speed of light. Those photons which are emitted in the right direction reach the Earth about 8.5 minutes later.
High energy photons, gamma rays, x-rays and most ultra-violet is absorbed by the upper atmosphere. Most of the gamma and x-rays come from cosmic rays and not directly from the Sun.
