In: Physics
- List three differences between the Sun’s core and the photosphere.
- Describe how sunspots are produced.
- Summarize in words the three steps in the proton-proton chain. Explain why energy is produced when hydrogen fuses into helium using Einstein’s E = mc2 equation.
The atmosphere of the sun is composed of several layers, mainly the photosphere, the chromosphere and the corona. It's in these outer layers that the sun's energy, which has bubbled up from the sun's interior layers, is detected as sunlight.The photosphere is marked by bright, bubbling granules of plasma and darker, cooler sunspots, which emerge when the sun's magnetic field breaks through the surface. The photosphere is also the source of solar flares: tongues of fire that extend hundreds of thousands of miles above the sun's surface.
Sunspots: are temporary phenomena on the Sun's photosphere that appear as spots darker than the surrounding areas. They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic field flux that inhibit convection. Sunspots usually appear in pairs of opposite magnetic polarity.