Photon spends hundreds of thousands of years to get to the surface of the Sun

Photon spends hundreds of thousands of years to get to the surface of the Sun

Most likely, you already know that a ray of light spends a little more than 8 minutes to get from the Sun to the Earth. This is amazing information, because if something happens to our star, we will not know about it instantly, but with an 8-minute delay. But you will be treated with great respect for this beam, if you find out how long it has to climb from the core to the surface.

Source of Life

To the sunlight, and even the star itself, it is worth to show maximum respect. Only the presence of the atmosphere and the ideal distance from the Sun allowed us to create acceptable conditions for life. It is enough to get close to Venus or move away to Mars in order to be in a critical state of heat or frost.

The sun in its structure resembles the similarity of the bulb with several layers. All these are active zones with nuclear and chemical reactions. Therefore, baby photon has to go a long way to light up your morning.

Moving from the core

Photon spends hundreds of thousands of years to get to the surface of the Sun

The internal structure of the sun. The radiation zone covers 0.25-0.7 solar radius. The temperature drops away from the core. Here it is reduced from 7 million K to 2 million. With the density, the same thing happens - from 20 g / cm3 to 0.2 g / cm3. The solar center covers about 25% of the stellar radius and heats up above 15 million K. The high gravitational force forms a strong level of pressure that pushes hydrogen atoms into nuclear fusion reactions.

Powerful explosions create high-power energy flashes. They still do not resemble the light known to us and are capable of killing. It's about gamma radiation. If there were no obstacles, the rays would overcome the distance to the solar surface in a couple of seconds. However, a born photon has to climb through a dense layer of hydrogen atoms. It takes not less than a hundred years.

Radiation Transfer Zone

Photon spends hundreds of thousands of years to get to the surface of the Sun

Sunny spot close up

At 45% of the solar radius, there is a radiant transfer zone. The density of matter is so high that it transforms into plasma. Photons receive energy from the nucleus, overcome a distance of 1 micron and are absorbed by gas molecules. Here there is a chain reaction that slows down the whole process.

The gas molecule is heated, releasing a different photon, but at the same wavelength. The photon again travels at 1 micron, is absorbed by the gas molecule, which is heated and continues the cycle. This is an incredibly long process that can spend millions of years. If the photon is lucky, then on the road through this layer will take an average of 170,000 years. The analysis shows that the chain covers about 10 25 repeated absorption / outliers.

We are in a convective zone

Welcome to the outer solar layer. I know the journey was longer than you thought, but this is not the end. Before you is a turbulent situation, represented by convection currents, transporting energy to the outside. Their task is to raise the hot gas to the surface. At the same time, the cooler material of the photosphere deepens below. Here the photon moves faster. However, the entire trip from the core to the surface will take an average of 200,000 years (of course, if not stuck for a million years).

Postscript

So it turns out that after a 200,000-year journey, the photon spends 8 minutes to die on the planet, giving it a long-awaited light. Here you have one more reason to treat solar activity more respectfully.

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