Solar Energy
Energy from the sun is abundant and renewable. It is also the principal factor that has enabled and shaped life on our planet. The sun is directly or indirectly responsible for nearly all the energy on earth, except for radioactive decay heat from the earth's core, ocean tides associated with the gravitational attraction of Earth's moon, and the energy available from nuclear fission and fusion. Located approximately ninety-three million miles from Earth, the sun, an average-size star, belongs to the class of dwarf yellow stars whose members are more numerous than those of any other class. The energy radiated into outer space by the sun (solar radiation) is fueled by a fusion reaction in the sun's central core where the temperature is estimated to be about 10 million degrees. At this temperature the corresponding motion of matter is so violent that all atoms and molecules are reduced to fast-moving atomic nuclei and stripped electrons collectively known as a plasma. The nuclei collide frequently and energetically, producing fusion reactions of the type that occur in thermonuclear explosions.
While about two-thirds of the elements found on earth have been shown to be present in the sun, the most abundant element is hydrogen, constituting about 80 percent of the sun's mass (approximately two trillion trillion million kilograms).
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