WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How the Sun Works 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:04.080 Hey, everybody, this is Chuck bringing you this week's S 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:09.479 Y s K Select and we are going there. People. Well, 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:11.880 Josh actually doesn't even know I'm picking this one yet, 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.440 so he might be mad. But what you were about 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:19.560 to hear is the legendary How the Sun Works episode. Uh. 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:21.280 And if you haven't heard us talk about this over 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.400 the years, then you haven't listened to many episodes or 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:27.160 heard many interviews with us, because this one has gone 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:31.840 down and stuff you should know lore as uh, what 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.480 we call our worst episode ever because it was so 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:38.680 hard and we were so in over our heads and 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:42.320 we were clinging to the cliff side by our little 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.720 nubby fingers during the entire podcast and got a lot 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:50.640 of it wrong. And so, uh, instead of burying this thing, 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:56.000 I chose to highlight it this week. So, without further ado, 0:00:56.160 --> 0:01:04.120 from January two thousand ten, are amazing episode How the 0:01:04.160 --> 0:01:16.959 Sun Works. Enjoy m Welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:25.800 from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 0:01:25.840 --> 0:01:32.440 the podcast. I am Josh Clark. That's Chuck Bryant. Charles 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.640 Charles W. Bryant is not very happy right now. I'm 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:40.479 gonna handle this, okay, Chuck the whole thing. This disclaimer. Okay, 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:45.640 as we prove with our large Hadron Collider podcast, Chuck 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:47.760 and I are not physicists. By the way, it doesn't 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.240 shoot light. No, we found out speaking of light, we're 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.160 about to talk about sun. Yes, And I just want 0:01:55.200 --> 0:01:57.800 to say that Chuck and I are not astrophysicists either. 0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:00.440 There's a couple of guys who like to drink some 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.960 beer and you know, just talk. Just wrap. I thought 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.639 I was an astrophysicist until I read the Sun article 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.720 and then my brain melted and newsed out of my ears. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:13.679 You're an astrophysicist. You're way off, way off. So we're 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.040 going to talk about the sun. If we get any 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.160 of the um you know, theory, if we get the 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:21.960 theory of relativity, and actually no, we can't screw that 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.600 one up. It's too famous. If there's a little thing 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:26.960 here there and you're an astrophysicist, please feel free to 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.239 send it's an email correcting us. We love that. Um 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.400 that's the first time we've ever called for corrections before. 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:37.600 I think this one's appropriate. So let's let's let me start. Chuck, 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.440 have you ever heard of the sun? Yes, Josh, I 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:44.000 wish we had more of it these days here in 0:02:44.200 --> 0:02:47.160 cold it is, it's a little chilly. If you'll notice 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.040 it's snowed here, Chuck. I feel notice though, after a 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.480 couple of days of sunlight the snow receded. Yes, do 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:59.720 you know why? Uh? No, radiation Okay, heat, yes, yeah, 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:05.240 energy from the sun. Right. The Sun, which, Josh, is 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.960 one of over one hundred billion stars. It's just a 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:11.280 star it is, and not even like a giant star either. 0:03:11.400 --> 0:03:15.239 It falls a little above average size. Did you know that? 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:18.519 Should we talk about the size? Yeah? Because if there's 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.040 one thing I can do is read stats. Yeah, this was. 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:23.080 This is a very stat heavy article, so it should 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.840 be up your alley, Josh. The Sun's radius is about 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.600 four hundred and thirty two thousand miles. Yeah, it's a 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.959 hundred nine times the radius of the Earth. Yes, one 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.240 on nine exactly, which I was like, Wow, that means 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.720 that it has a two hundred and eighteen times a diameter. 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:43.040 No that's not true. Still one on nine. It's constant. Uh, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:45.960 And I like this. NASA. NASA broke it down, our 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.240 good friends at NASA into something that I understood, which was, 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.360 if you think of the Earth, um the width of 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.000 an ordinary paper clip is the Earth's radius. Let's say, 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:57.840 then the Sun's radius would be roughly the height of 0:03:57.840 --> 0:04:00.800 a desk. And I know this one about one hundred 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.000 steps from each other. Is that what you're gonna say 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.480 it was? That's all right? Hey? So yeah, that kind 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.280 of puts it in a perspective. The Sun's a hell 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.440 of a lot bigger than the Earth, much much bigger, 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:13.160 and it's pretty far away, right, how many miles did 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:17.680 you say? Eight light minutes? Which is actually, chuck, apparently 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.359 ninety two million miles and change. And to put that 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.200 into perspective, other stars are light years away, not eight 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.960 light minutes away. And since this is a stat bonanza, 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:31.640 can I take a shot at one? So you said 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.280 that the uh, the Sun was how many light years? 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.040 Twenty five thousand light years from the center of the galaxy. Yes, 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.960 it takes about two hundred and fifty million years for 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:45.600 the Sun to uh do one revolution around the galaxy? 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:48.760 Can we stop here? I feel really good about it 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.479 so far. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. To check. Let's 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:53.920 soldier on, shall we Yes, the Sun is a G 0:04:54.120 --> 0:04:58.520 two type star based on its temperature and the wavelengths 0:04:58.600 --> 0:05:01.320 of light that it minutes, right, and it's about four 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.320 and a half billion years old, uh, which makes it 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.359 a population one star. Apparently there are two types of 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.159 stars as far as age classification goes. I didn't know 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.159 that population one star are the younger stars, which include 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.720 our sun. Population two stars are older, and they think 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.000 that there was a third population, but none of them 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.040 are around anymore. Population three. Right, they should just go 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.360 ahead and just claim that why not exactly, We wouldn't know. 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:27.760 We'd be like, oh, nobody would ever know. Right. Well, 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.760 luckily NASA is very honest and forth right. Thank thank you, NASA, 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.760 Thank you. So yeah, check the Sun we said, is 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.320 about four and a half billion years old um, and 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:41.919 they think it's about humanity arrived at about the halfway 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.000 point in the Sun's lifetime. It's got about five billion 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:48.880 more years worth of UM fuel, which is good news, 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.159 it is, because yeah, at the end of that run, 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.400 it's not good news for us. No, we'll get to that. 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.000 That'll be the grand finale. How about that? Exactly? All right? So, Chuck, 0:05:57.040 --> 0:05:59.320 what is the Sun? What should we talk about the 0:05:59.320 --> 0:06:02.240 parts of the Sun or I just want to talk 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.400 about the fact that it's a big you know, ball 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.040 of gas. I think we should mention that because if you, 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.800 if you talk about what the Sun is, I think 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.080 it's easier to understand it's different components and then in 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:17.760 turn what it is. Okay, well, it's made up entirely 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:21.239 of gas josh, which is really weird because gas generally 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:24.120 doesn't form a ball and have an atmosphere and all 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.280 that stuff. I know why though, why because of the 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:32.680 extreme gravity. Yeah, and heat and heat right holds everything together, right, 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.520 which is crazy. So this extreme this extreme heat actually 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:40.000 uh takes this gas and converts it into what is 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:43.479 technically a fourth state of matter. You've got solid liquid 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:46.560 gas and plasma. Plasma, and plasma is a type of 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.160 gas um that behaves in a way where it's um 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:55.120 it responds to magnetism. Right. Generally people just say that 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:57.719 it's gas, but unless you want to get really technical, 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:00.560 and you'll call it plasma. Yeah, that's what nassas it is. Like. 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:04.279 Scientists only sometimes will even call it plasma. Right. So, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:06.960 the core, which we'll talk about in just a second. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.640 But the core is so dense thanks to the force 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.440 of gravity that um it makes up two of the 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.480 Sun's volume, but it counts for half of the density 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.760 of the entire Sun. Right, and so the the gravitational 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:25.080 field in the core is so strong that it pulls 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:30.720 hydrogen atoms together in a nuclear reaction, a fusion reaction, 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.480 which is where everything begins. Yes, this is what everything 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:37.760 is accounted for for the Sun, right. Yeah. And a 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:40.800 fusion reaction, just if you guys don't know, is when 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:44.640 two atomic nuclei joined together and create a new nucleus. 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.640 And so the key um, the key element, I guess, 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:53.000 uh in the Sun's nuclear reactions, because that's all it is. 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.880 It's not it's not burning like we consider like a 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.760 wood fire to be burning. It's burning like a It's 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.000 a huge nuclear reaction basic the sunnets right, um. But 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:07.000 the key element is a helium four. When helium four 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:11.200 is created, um, the it has actually less mass than 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:15.720 the two I think hydrogen atoms that originally began that 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.000 set off this chain reaction that led to the creation 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.920 of helium four. And since matter or energy can either 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.280 be created nor destroyed, it has to be displaced. Right. 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:28.080 So under Einstein's theory relativity, which we won't screw up here, 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.800 energy equals mass times of speed of light squared. You 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:36.760 can describe how much energy is created. Right, So when 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:41.079 the mass is displaced, when the helium four atom is created, right, 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:45.840 the mass is this placed, it's created, it transfers into energy. Right. 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:50.000 I'm wondering how many of our commuters right now switch 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:53.080 this off and just put on Howard Stern, Like my 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:58.080 fingernails are bleeding. I'm hanging on just barely right now, thanks, buddy. 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:29.320 So are you all right? So Chuck, that's the core, 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:32.440 that's the center of the sun. Yes, it extends to 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:35.360 of the Sun's radius, just so you know how big 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:39.840 that is. And it's hot, hot, hot kelvin, which is 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:44.319 really hot. Trust u um. And uh, that's at the center, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.040 like you said, it's the radius. What's outside of that? 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:52.720 Just outside of that is the radiative zone. Is how 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.480 you pronounce that one? Either that or radiative radiative radiative 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:03.160 that extends about of the Sun's radius from the core, right, Okay, 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:07.680 So uh, these helium four atoms are created, and remember 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:12.199 they create energy or they displace energy. Right when they 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:16.520 lose their mass translation energy, that energy starts traveling outward 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.960 and it hits the radiative zone, and they are they're 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.800 generally um. The type of energy that's created can be 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:28.000 gamma rays, X rays, whatever, But technically all of these 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.640 are um light waves. So they're carried in these discrete 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:35.319 little packets called photons, right, Yes, they're carried by the photons. 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:39.680 And uh, the photon travels only about one micron, which 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.600 is a millionth of a meter, before it's absorbed by 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.680 a gas molecule. Right. Okay, So then this photon which 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.920 is absorbed by the gas molecule, heats the gas molecule up, 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.680 and then the photon or the gas molecule spits out 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.959 another photon, which is technically the same one because it's 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.880 the same wavelength as the original photon, right, and then 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:03.040 it shows another micro until it's absorbed by another gas molecule. Right. 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.840 So this keeps going on and on and on, and 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:11.160 by the time the photon escapes from the radiative zone, uh, 0:11:11.400 --> 0:11:14.320 averages about a million years from the time it was 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:18.400 I guess created. You could say from the creation of 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:22.240 that helium four adam a million years for one photon 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.160 of light to travel this uh this short distance. Yeah, 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.920 that would be ten to the twenty five absorption and 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.880 re emissions taking place. Yeah, that's a lot. That's a 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:35.080 lot of zeroes. Yeah, um, it's actually uh, I think 0:11:36.240 --> 0:11:40.960 exactly maybe twenty six. So once it escapes the radiative zone, 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.160 it hits the convective zone right right, and that is 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:49.600 the final thirty percent of the Sun's radius basically, right. Uh. 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.080 It takes a little while for that same photon to 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:56.839 escape that area, right, A hundred thousand to two hundred 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.240 thousand years to reach the surface of the Sun. Yes, 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.240 what's crazy is this. Once it escapes, Once that one 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.840 photon escapes services Sun, it takes eight minutes to reach 0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:09.080 the Earth's surface because remember where it's light minutes away, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:11.560 and its light travels at the speed of light, so 0:12:11.600 --> 0:12:14.720 it takes eight minutes. But the sunlight that's hitting us 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:18.120 when we go outside are made up of photons that 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.160 were created more than one point two million years ago. 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.520 I can't even comprehend that. Awesome. That is really really cool. 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.000 So we've got all these ancient photons bouncing office. But 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:29.880 let's get back to the convective zone, right, Okay, this 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.760 is uh, this is this area made up of these 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:37.920 alternating areas of rising and cooling gas. Right as NASA 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:40.640 once again breaks it down, a little easier. It's boiling 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.360 convection cells basically, right, it looks like a pot of 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:49.120 boiling water, except these are gas plasma. No, there's only 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:51.400 the Sun. Only the Sun. Okay, chuck. So we have 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.319 the three parts of the Sun. We have the core, 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.920 the radiative zone, and the convective zone. Right, and now 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.000 we've reached the atmosphere. The Sun actually has an atmosphere. 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.480 Yes it does, Yes, it does. And that's made up 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:06.360 of three parts as well, right, correct, the photosphere, the chromosphere, 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:09.600 and my favorite, I think everyone's favorite, the corona. I 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.960 like the corona, which can only be seen in an eclipse. Yeah, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.679 corona gets all the press, it does, so, Joshua. In 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:18.080 the photosphere we are is that where we are it 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:20.720 is hot. That is the lowest region in the atmosphere, 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:25.120 or Sun's atmosphere, and that is the region that you 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.280 can actually see from Earth. That's where you can start 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.840 to see things. Right. And actually the photosphere is what 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.400 gives the Sun. It's kind of round crisp edge because 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:37.760 as as um as you travel outward to the outside 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:40.440 of the photosphere, the gas is cooler, which creates that 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:43.760 crisp edge we see for the Sun right, has an 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.560 average temp of about fifty eight hundred kelvin, and it 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:52.199 is two hundred and forty miles wide. Right, that's big. 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.640 It is big. After that is the chromosphere, right, Yes, 0:13:55.880 --> 0:14:00.800 that's outside the photosphere. Obviously, it's about my els above 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:05.280 the photosphere, right, and that's about degrease kelvin. So obviously 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:07.600 you'll notice that it's getting cooler, you know, as you 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.720 expand outward, right, but it's still they think it's heated 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.800 by the photosphere and this this churning gas, the convection 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.240 cells are still present in the chromosphere as well. So 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:22.840 basically the what what we're seeing so far is the 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:26.960 Sun is this nuclear reactor that at its core, gravity 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:32.000 is pushing things together and then they're exploding outward. Right. Okay, Okay, 0:14:32.040 --> 0:14:34.760 I'm with you, But actually I I sort of mispoke 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.080 because it actually the temperature does rise across the chromosphere, 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:40.400 and it can rise up to ten thousand kelvin, which 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:44.600 is even hotter than the photosphere beneath it. Uh. And 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.280 then we have the corona chuck your favorite. Yeah, that's 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:50.240 the final layer, Josh, and it extends several million miles 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.880 outward from the photosphere and you can see this. In fact, 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.800 I think they first discovered the corona during the first 0:14:56.880 --> 0:14:59.840 solar eclipse. They were like, what the hell is that? Exactly? 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.960 How hot does that one? Josh? It's a two billion 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:06.440 degrees kelvin actually, which again it's very hot. Yeah, so 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.240 it's not actually cooling as it goes out. Word, I 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:12.040 completely misspoke. No, it's it's that's the I think that's 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.200 one of the reasons why the Sun has these different 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.040 features like sun spots and solar prominences, which we're about 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.560 to talk about, is because these um cooling and heating 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:26.240 raising and rising and lowering convection cells are kind of 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.400 competing with one another, and they actually create the magnetism 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:34.320 that UM the plasma is attracted to or responds to, 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.440 I should say, right, And I don't feel too bad 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:38.360 because the article even says that no one knows why 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.920 the corona is so hot. No, because you would think 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:43.160 it would be cooler. But and there are hotter places 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:47.480 than others because the cooler spots are called coronal holes. Uh, 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:51.360 they're also let's talk about sun spots, chuck, Okay, sun 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:57.120 spots are UM these areas of magnetic activity along the photosphere, right, 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:00.680 darker and cooler. Right. Um, they always appear in pairs 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:02.760 as far as I know, although I think they can 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.400 appear singularly, but it's very uncommon because it's a monopole. Right. 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.640 Like I said that, there's that um that convection activity 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:14.160 that actually creates the magnetic fields around the sun, right right, 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:17.280 And so when sun spots appear, generally they appear in 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.520 in pairs because one represents magnetic north and the other 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:25.280 represents magnetic south. And along these magnetic fields, other solar 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.880 activity can occur. Right, You've got solar prominences, which is 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:33.600 actually an arc of uh. I think particles and radiation 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:37.840 that can extend, uh, I think a thousand kilometers outside 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.800 of the Sun's atmosphere. Right, Yeah, they can, and they 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:43.760 last for two or three months. It's like a temporary thing, right. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:47.520 And these things are it's kind of like um, an 0:16:47.600 --> 0:16:51.800 arc of electricity, except a lot bigger, right right. Uh. 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.920 And every once in a while they erupt into coronal 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.520 mass ejections, right, which is my next band name? Is it? 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.360 Coronal mass ejection? That's give? Uh? Can we? I got 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:03.840 one more thing on sun spots, which I thought was 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.680 really cool is you know, they break through their magnetic 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.959 fields that breakthrough the surface, but they can only enter, exit, 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.680 and re enter through other sun spots, which I thought 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.320 was pretty cool. That is pretty cool. They also occur 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.480 on eleven year cycles, right, yes, the solar cycle a 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.280 full cycle, a full solar cycles twenty two years, so 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:26.120 every eleven years that either peaks or troughs. And what's 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:31.600 interesting is, um, you know, everybody's like the world's gonna 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:33.920 and I think we mentioned this in our twenty twelve podcast. 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:39.000 That is the predicted peak of the solar cycle maximum 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:43.240 that we're in. So you've got these sun spots, the 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.120 sun spot activity is gonna pick up. When sun spots 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.679 pick up, Solar prominences pick up. When there's more solar prominences, 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.520 there's more coronal mass ejections. When there's more coronal mass ejections, 0:17:53.800 --> 0:18:01.520 the Earth is inundated with um uh radiation and radioactive articles. Right, 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:04.040 they hit the Earth's atmosphere and actually mess with the 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:09.360 magnetic field. This accounts for the Aurora borealis and Australia's right, right, 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:12.760 and um When enough of them hit the Earth's atmosphere 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:17.239 and they actually ionize, they interfere with our electrical activity, right, 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.560 calls like blackouts, right, which is why a lot of 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:23.720 people think that will have all these catastrophes. Right, that 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:26.280 makes sense, But really it's just part of a twenty 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.800 two year cycle of the sun. So calm down, are 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:34.800 your minds exactly know? The mines don't think that? That's right? Josh? Yes, 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:36.160 you want to talk about the color of the sun 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.520 real quick. Yeah, because this is a cool little fact 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:40.639 that I bet most people don't know, because most people 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.800 say the sun is yellow or orange. Not true. The 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.560 sun is actually white. Sunlight is actually white. Do you 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.920 know why it changes the atmosphere? Oh? Yeah, The atmosphere 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:53.000 acts as a filter for the setting sun and that's 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:56.480 when it changes its color. Well, and it is white. 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:58.480 It does appear white, but it's actually made up of 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.040 all the colors of the spectrum, which is why you 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.879 can take a prism and um shoot sunlight through it 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.240 and it spreads into the different colors and you have 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:10.880 pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album cover. Right. 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:15.160 I got another couple of cool facts. Rotation of the sun. 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.800 Everyone knows it makes a complete rotation in about a month. 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:22.639 But because it's a gas. Basically, it's different parts rotate 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:25.800 at different rates. So gas near the equator takes twenty 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.320 five days to rotate, let's say, and gas at higher 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:31.720 latitudes may take as many as like three more extra days. Right, 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:34.520 pretty cool. So it's rotating at different rates. It is 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.760 because it's a ball of gas, exactly. And I got 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:41.040 one more You ready for this one about the vibration. Yeah, 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:43.399 this is pretty cool too. I thought I had no idea. 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:47.719 The sun vibrates constantly like a bell that is continuously struck, right, 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:52.320 creating sound ways. But there's two minutes between intervals, yes, 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:55.480 and ten million individual tones at the same time, So 0:19:55.960 --> 0:19:59.240 we we could if our hearing was I guess different. 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.119 I don't know if better is the right word, but 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.240 if we had a different type of hearing, we would 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:07.480 be able to hear the vibrations coming off of the 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:09.800 Sun because actually do hit the Earth. But like I said, 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:15.600 in two minute intervals the slowest distance between intervals time 0:20:15.640 --> 0:20:21.000 wise that humans can hear a second. So it's it's 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.399 constantly making a sound, we just can't hear. It just 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.480 leads me to the question, if the sun makes a 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.920 sound while it's vibrating, can you hear it. I bet 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:34.399 those blue people in Avatar can hear it. Now, you 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:37.199 still haven't seen it. I'll never see that movie. You 0:20:37.240 --> 0:21:09.440 should never. You're gonna be that guy. Yeah, okay, that's fine. 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:14.440 I got a couple of other stats for you, Josh, 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.080 if you're into it. Well, not a fewer than five 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:19.280 percent of the stars in the Milky Way are brighter 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:22.040 or more massive than the Sun, but some are more 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:25.760 than one hundred thousand times is bright. Isn't that crazy? Yes, 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.040 that is pretty cool actually, And if you go in 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:30.880 the other way, some stars are less than one ten 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:33.840 as bright as the Sun, which is kind of nuts. 0:21:33.880 --> 0:21:36.600 But really, I mean stat wise that we have a 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:39.720 fairly mediocre sun. Yeah, it does the trick, though, Yes, 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:41.440 it does s the trick, and it should for about 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:44.359 the next five billion years. Like we said, they or 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:46.760 the Sun is middle aged right now, right, it's about 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:50.000 halfway through. Sure, it's starting to look into wearing treck 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.480 suits all the time out in public exactly. Um, and uh, 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.480 after about five billion years, it's going to run out 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.440 of fuel, Yeah, run out of hydrogen. And what happens then, Well, 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:03.639 that density of the core is going to remain, but 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.440 it's not going to have the fuel to create these 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:11.360 um nuclear reactions, which remember we said that the Sun 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:15.160 is a bunch of nuclear reactions. This gravity smashing things 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:19.760 together and then the energy escaping. It's this constant pushing pull. Well, 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:21.840 when it runs out of fuel, there's gonna be nothing 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.679 but pull. There won't be any push any longer, right right, 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.080 which is bad news for the core. Right. But before 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:30.000 this happens, when this, when this kicks off, Chuck, it's 0:22:30.040 --> 0:22:33.760 going to turn into a red giant. And this red 0:22:33.840 --> 0:22:35.760 giant is you know how the Sun just kind of 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:38.880 heats the earth. Yes, well that's not gonna happen. I mean, 0:22:38.920 --> 0:22:41.160 it'll heat the earth, but it's also going to vaporize 0:22:41.160 --> 0:22:43.480 it when it turns into a red giant, which is 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.119 the bad news for us. Well, we probably won't be around. 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:48.400 We'll be long gone. There'll be no trace of humanity 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:51.080 anywhere in five billion years. In no way I would 0:22:51.119 --> 0:22:52.720 think not. I don't know that we have that much 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:56.439 staying power. Um. And so the Sun is going to 0:22:56.680 --> 0:22:59.879 vaporize the Earth, which is probably pretty wicked cool this. 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:03.960 See when that does happen, Um, after that, the core 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:06.960 will be Then the core will turn into carbon. I 0:23:07.000 --> 0:23:10.720 must spoke earlier, right right, which is cools cools it down, right, 0:23:10.800 --> 0:23:12.880 and then as it cools, it will turn into a 0:23:12.880 --> 0:23:16.639 white dwarf, and then a black dwarf eventually, Yes, and 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:20.520 then it'll just be some hulk that won't even resemble 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.320 our sun anymore. Right, And once this whole process starts, 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:27.639 it's gonna take uh several billion years to even complete 0:23:27.720 --> 0:23:31.000 that process. So now it happens overnight or a probably 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:33.080 about ten billion years from now, the Sun will just 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:36.960 be this massive hulk of carbon, right, like my brain 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:39.639 is right now. Not so massive that can we be 0:23:39.680 --> 0:23:42.600 done now? I think? So? Okay, I mean there's a 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:45.760 lot more. We didn't even touch on solar wind and 0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:47.760 things like that, but we leave it up to the 0:23:47.800 --> 0:23:52.520 listener to pursue these. Yeah, sure, the listener or stuff 0:23:52.520 --> 0:23:56.679 from the Science Lab or soon to be forthcoming sister 0:23:56.920 --> 0:24:02.600 podcast with the esteemed Robert Lamb and his esteemed editor 0:24:02.680 --> 0:24:06.200 Alison louder Milk, And then we can just talk about noodling. Yeah, 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:08.439