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A photon is an elementary particle that is composed of electromagnetic energy. ... Gas molecules absorb the photons and then instantly re-emit them. When the photons are re-emitted they are sent about the inside of the Earth's atmosphere in random directions, although the majority of them fly toward Earth's surface.
- How long does it take for photons to reach the Earth?
- How does a photon travel?
- Where does a photon form and how does it get to the surface?
- How does the Earth receive its light?
- What would happen if the Sun exploded?
- What is the Sun really made up if not gas?
- Do photons actually move?
- How are photons created?
- What makes light so fast?
- Does the Earth emit photons?
- How does the Sun release photons?
- How is light made?
- What would have happened if the Earth did not rotate?
- Does the sun heat the air directly?
- Where from the Earth receives light?
How long does it take for photons to reach the Earth?
A photon of light takes only eight minutes to get to the Earth from the surface of the Sun.
How does a photon travel?
As shown by Maxwell, photons are just electric fields traveling through space. Photons have no charge, no resting mass, and travel at the speed of light. Photons are emitted by the action of charged particles, although they can be emitted by other methods including radioactive decay.
Where does a photon form and how does it get to the surface?
Fusion occurs in the sun's innermost core, when two atoms merge, releasing energy and light in the process. Photons of light are first created in the sun's center. Over tens of thousands of years, the photons travel a "drunken walk," zigzagging their way from atom to atom until they reach the surface.
How does the Earth receive its light?
Most of the energy that reaches the Earth's surface comes from the Sun. About 44 percent of solar radiation is in the visible light wavelengths, but the Sun also emits infrared, ultraviolet, and other wavelengths. When viewed together, all of the wavelengths of visible light appear white.
What would happen if the Sun exploded?
All human and plant life on Earth will eventually die out if the Sun explodes. ... The sun will eventually become cooler and bigger, and scientists say that will become a red giant. When it starts to expand, it will most likely envelop Mercury, Venus and Earth in its grasp, and these three planets will dissolve instantly.
What is the Sun really made up if not gas?
It does not have easily identifiable boundaries like rocky planets like Earth. Instead, the sun is composed of layers made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. These gases carry out different functions in each layer, and the sun's layers are measured by their percentage of the sun's total radius.
Do photons actually move?
Photons are massless, so they always move at the speed of light in vacuum, 299792458 m/s (or about 186,282 mi/s). ... Like all elementary particles, photons are currently best explained by quantum mechanics and exhibit wave–particle duality, their behavior featuring properties of both waves and particles.
How are photons created?
A photon is produced whenever an electron in a higher-than-normal orbit falls back to its normal orbit. During the fall from high energy to normal energy, the electron emits a photon -- a packet of energy -- with very specific characteristics.
What makes light so fast?
Ergo, light is made of electromagnetic waves and it travels at that speed, because that is exactly how quickly waves of electricity and magnetism travel through space.
Does the Earth emit photons?
Earth's surface, heated by the incoming sunlight, emits relatively long-wavelength infrared photons. These IR photons move upward from the surface through the atmosphere.
How does the Sun release photons?
The energy produced by nuclear fusion is conveyed from the heart of the Sun by light particles and heat, called photons. When merging two protons in a nucleus of deuterium to create a helium nucleus, photons are released. This particle, created in the solar core, transmits the light beam to Earth.
How is light made?
Light is made up of little packets of energy called photons. Most of these photons are produced when the atoms in an object heat up. ... the electrons inside the atoms and they gain extra energy. This extra energy is then released as a photon.
What would have happened if the Earth did not rotate?
At the Equator, the earth's rotational motion is at its fastest, about a thousand miles an hour. If that motion suddenly stopped, the momentum would send things flying eastward. Moving rocks and oceans would trigger earthquakes and tsunamis. The still-moving atmosphere would scour landscapes.
Does the sun heat the air directly?
To summarize, yes, the sun does directly heat up the air molecules in our atmosphere and this is essential to all life on earth as well as weather. Answer 2: The sun does provide some heat directly to the atmosphere, but much of the heating of the atmosphere comes indirectly from the sun through other means.
Where from the Earth receives light?
The Earth receives light from the Sun. The Earth is spherical in shape. So only one half of the Earth gets sunlight at a time. The portion facing the Sun experiences day and the other portion experiences night.
