Question
Question: Energy in the sun is mainly generated by:...
Energy in the sun is mainly generated by:
Solution
The Sun is at the centre of the solar system and provides energy to all of the planets that orbit it. But where does it get this much energy to sustain planets the size of ours, or even planets that are several times the size of ours? So here, we will learn about what happens at the core of the sun In order to understand what is the reason behind the generation of energy.
Complete answer:
The sun is mostly made up of plasma-like elements like hydrogen and helium. The temperature and pressure in the sun's core are extremely high, which causes the nuclei to be separated from their electrons. Nuclear fusion is the mechanism that happens after that.
Nuclear fusion in the sun's centre: The sun is a cooler star than other stars, with a core temperature of less than 108 K. The light, on the other hand, has a core temperature of less than 107 K. As a result, fusion occurs through the proton-proton cycle.
1H+1H→2H+e++U
2H+1H→3He+γ
3He+1H→4He+21H
41H→4He+2e++2U+2γ
It is the proton-proton cycle.Four hydrogen nuclei combine to form a helium nucleus in this process. This process releases 26.7 MeV of energy. Hydrogen is the fuel that burns to produce helium, which releases energy. It is estimated that it emits more energy per day than the entire world consumes in a year. It is thought to have been emitting energy for the past 4.5×109 years.
It will keep going until it has used up all of its hydrogen. The current hydrogen supply of the sun is sufficient to power it for the next 5 billion years! So, for the next 5 billion years, the sun isn't going anywhere. Radiant energy is emitted from the heart during fusion. It takes 150,000 years for this radiant energy from the sun's centre to reach the earth. After that, it only takes 8 minutes to hit the earth.
It's possible that because two protons are positively charged, they'll repel each other. So, how did they form helium by fusing together? The response is that the core's high temperature and pressure allow them to get much closer than they could have under normal conditions. As the atomic number increases, the coulomb repulsion becomes more and more obstructive.
For heavier elements to fuse together, a higher temperature is needed. The internal gravitational force of all the gases that surround the centre of the star balances the external pressure produced by the fusion reactions. The proton-carbon cycle occurs in hotter stars with core temperatures above 108 K.
1H+15N→12C+4He
Note: One should know that one part in 2 billion of the energy of the sun reaches the earth. Nuclear fusion, which generates energy in the sun, is the same mechanism that causes a hydrogen bomb to explode.