Preview

6 Regions Of The Sun Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
895 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
6 Regions Of The Sun Essay
1. What are the six regions of the Sun?
The six regions of the Sun are the core, the radiative zone, the convective zone, the photosphere, the chromosphere, and the corona. The core is at the center of the Sun, while the corona is the outermost region of the Sun.
2. What is nuclear fusion? What role does nuclear fusion play in the Sun?
Nuclear fusion is when two atomic nuclei combine into one heavier nucleus. Nuclear fusion plays the role of providing energy for the Sun. This energy is created as nuclear fusion occurs following the steps of the proton-proton chain reaction.
3. How are sunspots and solar flares similar? How are they different?
Sunspots and solar flares are similar in the way that magnetic fields are involved, or are believed to be involved with both occurrences. Sunspots occur where areas with strong magnetic fields are located, while solar flares are believed to happen due to
…show more content…
What is a solar eclipse?
A solar eclipse is when the Sun is hidden behind the Moon; the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, blocking the Sun from view. These only occur during a new moon, at which time the Moon is seen as a silhouette when passing infront of the Sun. There are total eclipses, where the Moon completely covers the Sun, and partial eclipses, where the Moon only covers part of the
…show more content…
What is the proton-proton chain reaction? Describe this process.
The proton-proton chain reaction is the process which creates energy during nuclear fusion. During this process, two hydrogen nuclei fuse together and a deuterium nucleus, which has one proton and one neutron, is formed. A neutrino is created, too. Then, the deuterium nucleus fuses with another proton and forms the nucleus of helium-3, with two protons and one neutron, during which time a gamma ray photon is released. Finally, two helium-3 fuse together and create helium-4 with two protons and two neutrons.
3. How does the Sun manage to maintain an environment in its core that is conducive to nuclear

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Unit 2 Review KEY

    • 832 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Fission is a big nucleus breaking apart. Fusion is small nuclei combining, this releases more energy.…

    • 832 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Astronomy Chapter 1-11

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages

    These events mark the start of the seasons; the equinoxes occur on or about March 21 and Sep 22, while the solstices occur on or about June 21 and December 21. 25. How is an annular eclipse of the Sun different from a total eclipse? What causes this difference? In both annular and total solar eclipses, the Moon lines up precisely with the Sun, center on center. The difference is that in an annular eclipse, the Moon fails to cover the Sun completely, leaving a bright ring. This is caused by the Moon being farther away than usual – its orbit isn’t exactly circular – so that its angular size is smaller. Variation in the distance to the Sun also contributes, since Earth’s orbit is likewise not precisely circular. But the variation in Moon angular size is greater. 27. At what phase(s) of the moon does a solar eclipse occur? A lunar…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Astr100 Midterm Studyguide

    • 4598 Words
    • 19 Pages

    * Corona: the outer atmosphere of the sun; only visible during a total solar eclipse…

    • 4598 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homework for Chapter 20

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In nuclear fission, atoms of uranium-235(any unstable nucleus with a sufficiently high number of nuclear mass) are bombarded with neutrons. Ordinarily neutrons move too quickly to split nuclei when they collide with them, but if neutrons are slowed down they can break apart nuclei. Each collision splits uranium atoms into smaller atoms and releases two or three neutrons, along with energy and radiation. Because the uranium nuclei is surrounded by innumerous number of other similar nuclei; the extra neutrons; besides the releasing of the energy of the previous nuclei that kept the repulsing protons together; begins to break them apart in the same manner leading to a series of chain reaction.…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Geology Final Exam

    • 1687 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Elements form by fusion of lighter elements and heavier elements into heavier elements. They release energy. Elements with mulitples of 4 nucleons are most abundant because they combine helium.…

    • 1687 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    A. A total solar eclipse is visible from any location on the day-side of the Earth.…

    • 1905 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The dark reddish bands of Jupiter are called belts, while the lighter color bands are called zones.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sunspot Research Paper

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sunspots are dark areas on the solar surface that contain transient and concentrated magnetic fields. They are the most prominent visible features on the photosphere Sun; a moderate-sized sunspot is about as large as Earth. Sunspots form and dissipate over periods of days or weeks. They occur when strong magnetic fields emerge through the solar surface and allow the area to cool slightly, from a background value of 6000 degrees C down to about 4200 degrees C; this area appears as a dark spot in contrast with the Sun. The darkest area at the centre of a sunspot is called the umbra; it is here that the magnetic field strengths are the highest. The less dark, striated area around the umbra is called the penumbra. Sunspots rotate with the solar surface, taking about 27 days to make a complete rotation as seen from Earth. Sunspots near the Sun's equator rotate at a faster rate than those near the solar poles. Groups of sunspots, especially those with complex magnetic field configurations, are often the sites of flares.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Whereas nuclear fission occurs when the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller subatomic particles. Although both nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are almost complete opposite process they both result in very high levels of energy being released. Nuclear fusion is also a natural process and requires extremely high levels of energy to occur compared to nuclear fission which requires less energy but creates a huge number of radioactive particles. The process used for the Manhattan Project was nuclear fission and it was used to spilt a uranium isotope which is what caused the unprecedented massive energy…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nuclear power is produced through the use of nuclear reactions to produce nuclear energy that can then be harnessed to generate heat and create superheated steam to drive turbines. The most common nuclear reaction is that of nuclear fission, which is the splitting of an atom’s nucleus into smaller nuclei. Nuclear reactions are incredibly energy dense and thus allow nuclear reactors to make a tremendous amount of electricity. There are only 61 nuclear power plants in the United States, but they account for 19 percent of the entire country’s electricity production. [8][14] There are 7,304 total power plants in the United States, so nuclear plants on average produce over twenty-eight times as much energy as another plant in the U.S.…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sunspots Research Paper

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Sunspots are dark planet sized splotches that appear on the surface of the sun. Human beings have been studying these spots dating as far back as ancient Chinese civilizations in which they studied sunspots and used them to make predictions upon their calendars. This was possible because sometimes the sun produces big enough sunspots that they’re visible to the human eye, and behind a filter such as fog or clouds it was possible for these ancient astronomers to track their activity. Now due to technological advancements, humans have been able to more effectively study and observe sunspots, and even theorize how they’re created and what their existence might mean for those on Earth.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Stellar Fusion

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Huge clouds of hydrogen atoms and gravity cause the atoms to be attracted to each other creating them to slowly move towards the centre of mass.The atoms then continue condensing until something happens.All of the atoms are trying to get to the centre of mass. While this is happening the temperature becomes 10 million Kelvin and at that point there is enough temperature and enough pressure to overcome the coulomb forces, bringing the two protons close enough to each other for the fusion process (diagram below). This is called ignition because when two of the protons fuse the resulting nucleus has a slightly smaller mass. So the first stage of this there are two protons under enough pressure…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this photo of the sun from the solar telescope the sun looks like an orange red shade from the telescope, different from viewing it from the sky. There is no sunspots or solar flares as the sun is currently at a solar minimum. Which means that the sunspots and solar flare activity is absent, this occurs in part of the 11-year solar cycle of the…

    • 67 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Life Cycle of Stars

    • 2606 Words
    • 11 Pages

    When a temperature of about 27,000,000°F is reached, nuclear fusion begins. This is the nuclear reaction in which hydrogen atoms are converted to helium atoms plus energy. This energy (radiation) production prevents further contraction of the star.…

    • 2606 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cold Fusion

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cold Fusion is the merging of two dissimilar metal hydrides. The process is exothermic, and can generate energy in one of two ways. Energy can be input in to a system and multiplied, or energy alone can be generated although in a much smaller amount. For example, one watt of energy can be input and 3 watts recovered. Some systems are capable of producing hundreds of watts per individual watt. The actual physics of the reaction is not completely understood. Some claim it is merely a chemical reaction not yet understood, while others are convinced it is a nuclear reaction.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics