"The Sun and the Gift of Light"
By José Reyes
Us Earthlings take for granted many things and overlook our natural surroundings, we see the Sun rise and set everyday but neglect to take the time to learn a little about how important it is to our well being. The Sun and its miraculous energy, form the foundation for life in our solar system, without the Sun there would be no chance at all. The interaction of the Sun with the process of Photosynthesis and the "Greenhouse Effect", creates the perfect atmosphere for all living organisms on earth, to breathe 24 hours a day. Also, all the beautiful colors we see in nature are transported, amazingly, by the particles of energy in the rays of Sun.
The Sun is ideal and safe for the composition of our Earth's atmosphere unlike the disastrous effects it has on some of the other planets in our solar system, but the Sun is not totally in fault here. The atmosphere in many of the other, life potential planets, just have the wrong combination of elements. Many of these planets could have had life on them in the past but unfortunately were bombarded by so many meteors and asteroids, large and small, that their atmospheres changed to the worse and distorted the delicate balance of elements for life to exist. The elements on these planets either contradict each other by clashing and disagreeing or they do not have enough oxygen or water for photosynthesis to occur. Another positive feature of the Sun is that it has the magnetic power to keep the planets in our solar system from floating away and disappearing into another solar system. Lets take a good look at this incredible "Star".
The Sun
Age: 4.5 Billions Years Old and enough energy to last another 5 billion years or more.
Diameter of the Sun: 863,040 miles or 1,392,000 kilometers.
Mass: 332,830 times the mass of the Earth.
Layers of the Sun
This immense Star is 73%
Hydrogen and about 25% Helium, the remaining 2% is composed of carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, neon, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, iron and over 50 other elements.
The
Sun also is better understood when explained through its layers and atmospheres.
First of all, you have the
(Core).
Then the
surface (Photosphere),
then you enter the (Chromosphere)
which takes up little space, as you work yourself up into the next
atmosphere (Corona),
only seen when there is a Total
Eclipse.
After the Corona
there is an invisible magnetic field (Magnetosphere
or Heliosphere) that
reaches up to and beyond the furthest planet of our Solar
System, Pluto.
How the Sun Works
In the Core of the Sun, where the temperature reaches 27 Million degrees Fahrenheit, Solar power is manufactured. Solar energy is created there when 4 Protons (Hydrogen Nuclei) fuse together to form 1 Alpha Particle (Helium Nuclei). These particles of Helium reach the Photosphere through a process called Convection and take about 1 million years to surface. The Core also has an air pressure equivalent to about 340 millions times the Earth's air pressure.
Convection:
The transfer of
heat by an
automatic circulation
driven by temperature gradients.
Heated fluids are lower in density so they rise. The cooled fluids have a higher
density so they fall. Heated fluid will rise to the top of a column made of hot
gasses, radiate
heat away
and then fall to be
re-heated, rise and so on. The bright center of each cell is
at the very top of a rising column. These columns are about the same size or
larger than our planet Earth.
The Magnetic Field of the Sun
The magnetic field explains all the activity you see on the Sun when looking through special telescopes. The magnetic field is shot throughout space disrupting the whole Solar system, with maximum to minimal damage. For more information Click Here
Faculae: Bright Hydrogen clouds that are formed just before Sun Spots develop.
Sunspots:
Are
not entirely understood yet and are located on the Photosphere.
Sunspots are dark colored dents on the photosphere with a temperature of
about 7,000° Fahrenheit.
Solar
Flares: Flares are
bright filaments of hot helium gas that emerges from sunspot regions.
Solar
Eclipse: Is
only seen from Earth when the Moon aligns itself in a position that 
completely
covers our view of the Sun. When this amazing event occurs, a beautiful halo is
seen around the Moon and the Corona is exposed. The Corona
is a highly structured region of plasma. The Corona is so hot that the Sun's
gravity can't even hold it.
Solar Winds:
The plasma of the
corona is shot out into space, carrying a magnetic field into space by way of 
Solar
Winds, to form the
interplanetary magnetic field. These solar winds create an incredible phenomenon
on Earth called "The Northern Lights". When the deadly solar winds hit
the Earth's outer atmosphere it creates an Aurora effect with a fascinating
light show that lights up the night skies with an array of beautiful colorful
shapes. (illustration and video
Click
Here)
Prominences: Prominences
are dense clouds of material suspended above the surface of the
Sun by loops of
magnetic field. Prominences and filaments are actually the same things except
that prominences are seen projecting out above the limb, or edge, of the Sun.
Filaments
and Plage: Filaments
are dark, thread-like features seen in the red light of hydrogen (H-alpha).
These are dense, somewhat cooler, clouds of material that are suspended above
the solar surface by loops of magnetic field. Plage
are also associated
with concentrations of magnetic fields and form a part of the network of bright
emissions.
Spicules:
Spicules are
small, jet-like eruptions seen throughout the chromospheric network. They last
but a few minutes but in the process eject material off of the surface and
outward into the hot corona at speeds of 20 to 30 km/s.
The Gift of Sunlight: "Photosynthesis"
The most important
aspect of the Sun and especially Sunlight is Photosynthesis, 
the gift of life.
Photosynthesis is the conversion of Light
Energy to Chemical
Energy and storing
it in bonds
of Sugar.
Photosynthesis converts Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
and Water(H20)
to Glucose and Oxygen (O) Photosynthesis is also carried out by bacteria, mainly in the ocean with the
growth of other types
of plants. These bacteria
(Cyanobacteria) take light energy and use it to convert the CO2 (Carbon
Dioxide) they consume to create organic materials by reducing the gas and
changing it to carbohydrates.
I have a cross-section of a plant leaf (TOP) to show how the process of
photosynthesis occurs. 
Photosynthesis
happens in cells in the middle
cells
(Mesophyll Cells) of the leaf. These cells contain tiny bodies called Chloroplasts;
these contain a green chemical called Chlorophyll.
The Chlorophyll
changes light energy to chemical energy. Plants will achieve the main goal of
producing Oxygen but there are several factors that could limit or even halt the
whole process. <To The
Left< A closeup
of a Mesophyll
Cell.
Check out this Beautiful Illustration of Photosynthesis >> Olympus Microscopes
Light Reaction and Dark Reaction
There are two parts to
Photosynthesis, the Light
Reaction and
the Dark Reaction.
The Light Reaction happens in the Thylakoid
membrane, located
in the chloroplast and converts light energy to chemical energy. This chemical
reaction must, therefore, take place in the light. Chlorophyll and several other
pigments such as beta-carotene
are organized in clusters in the Thylakoid
membrane and are
involved in the light reaction.
The Dark Reaction takes place in the Stroma within the chloroplast, and converts CO2 to sugar. This reaction doesn't directly need light in order to occur, but it does need the products of the light reaction (ATP and another chemical called NADPH). The dark reaction involves a cycle called the Calvin Cycle in which CO2 and energy from ATP are used to form sugar. More on the Calvin Cycle Process
Limiting Factors Preventing Photosynthesis:
1. Light: A plant may have lots of water and carbon dioxide, but it will not photosynthesize very fast if there is not enough light. The more you increase the light the faster photosynthesis takes place.
2. Temperature: If the temperature is to cold the enzymes used to produce photosynthesis will not work properly.
3. Carbon Dioxide: The lack of enough carbon dioxide even though light is plentiful will also stop the photosynthesis process.
The overall chemical reaction involved in photosynthesis is:
6CO2 + 6H2O (+ light energy) = C6H12O6 + 6O2
(This is the source of The O2 we breathe)
The "Green House" Effect
The
"Greenhouse Effect" process, in general, is the reason why life exist
on earth but remember, if the sunlight which nourishes the soil did not exist,
then there would not be any life at all. The "Greenhouse Effect"
creates the perfect combination of gases which in turn, traps the heat brought
in by sunlight and reflects it back to the surface. The Earth's atmosphere is
composed of several layers located at different altitudes. The Greenhouse Effect
takes place in lowest layer, the Troposphere. The
Earth's Total Atmosphere is primarily composed of Nitrogen (N2, 78%),
Oxygen (O2, 21%). The other 1% are the Greenhouse gases, water (H2O,
0 - 7%), Ozone (O
Learn More About: The Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming
Sunlight and Color
The Sun releases all the essential ingredients for life to exist by way of sunlight but it also provides all the Earth's inhabitants with color. It's amazing to understand this because all we see is ordinary "White" light. When we look at the Sun directly. There are a couple of factors concerning electromagnetic waves to learn about, before being able to understand natural sunlight and artificial light.
Light Waves and Wavelength of Colors
Light
is a form of
radiant energy, consisting of pieces of energy or particles "Photons"
and it travels in electromagnetic
waves.
These waves have "High
Points"
and "Low
Points", and
the difference between those highs and lows and the next is called a Wavelength.
Here on the <Left<
we see an example of an electromagnetic spectrum of "Visible
Light" seen
through a prism.
Each color has a
different wavelength. Red
has the longest wavelength and Violet
has the shortest wavelength.
When all the waves are seen together, they make White
light. This can be seen by looking at a rainbow through water
vapor acting as a
natural prism. >Right>> The amount of energy in a wavelength depends on
the length. 
The shorter
the wavelength the stronger
the energy, the longer
the wavelength the weaker
the energy. Now
remember, these are the visible light waves that humans can see, the
"white" light of the Sun carries all the variation of colors available
and each color is recognized by its own wavelength. Remember the Human eye could
only see these colors:
Learn More About: The Human Eye Rods and Cones
Here wavelengths of the visible colors humans can see:| Red | 780 to 622 nm |
| Orange | 622 to 597 nm |
| Yellow | 597 to 577 nm |
| Green | 577 to 492 nm |
| Blue | 492 to 455 nm |
| Violet | 455 to 390 nm |
Making A Prism:
WWW.eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/RadiationBudget/prism
More Websites on Light:
Conclusion
I hope my research
provided all the readers
with enough information
to
understand the
Sun and Sunlight. With
this article and the websites (Links) on it, all
the readers, can go further on and learn more in detail by searching through the
internet or reading a couple of text books.
So next time the light of the Sun bothers your eyes, remember, without this powerful Star we wouldn't even be here. "Long live the Sun"!!!
