2007-06-23 21:57:08 · 6 answers · asked by AKL 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Try to be a little specific though.
2007-06-23 22:03:16 · update #1
i am asking for how to measure, so take note of it.
2007-06-23 22:10:09 · update #2
We cannot measure the HEAT of the sun: we calculate to the total amount of heat it dissipates per unit of time.
What we can do is to measure its surface TEMPERATURE.
This is made by analysing its radiation spectrum and correcting for distance and relative speed (radiation shift and not really applicable for the sun).
Each "band" of the radiation spectrum corresponds to a particular temperature.
In the past, we used a heated filament, and checked only the visible spectrum: point a "telecsope" towards the Sun, and heat the filament in the telescope until its colour matches the colour of the Sun. The temperature of the filament was considered equal to the temperature of the Sun... (after a bit of calculations).
For the heat (the amount of energy radiated), we could place a 1 square meter of "heat receptor" exactly pointing at the sun. Since 1 sq m is just a portion of a sphere 150,000,000 km in diameter, multiply the amount of heat received by the ratio, and you get the total amount of HEAT dissipated by the Sun.
2007-06-23 23:39:06 · answer #1 · answered by just "JR" 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Heat and temperature are different. A spark has a higher temperature than a tub of hot water, but it has much less heat. The surface of the Sun, which is what we see, has a temperature of about 6000 Celsius. The centre is much hotter; about 20 million Celsius. The Sun is really big; about 300 000 times as massive as the Earth, so it contains a huge amount of heat, and it's generating it all the time, by turning hydrogen into helium. Here on Earth, on a sunny day in a hot place like Arizona, you get about 1000 watts of heat per sq. metre from the Sun.
2007-06-23 22:08:52 · answer #2 · answered by zee_prime 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Heat like any other waves dissipate as radiation and their intensity decreases by the square of the distance.
That would mean that we can know the heat they carry at our backyard and work back to calculate the temperature at sun's surface which has been estimated around 6000 deg Celcius.
Hope that helps.
2007-06-23 22:02:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Lightning is supposed to be 10 times hotter than the surface of the sun. So I would guess around 100,000F
2007-06-23 22:06:55 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
they talk of 1000 atom bombs going off in one spot the size of america...
they talk of the sun being 1000 times larger than the earth
etc etc
measuring the heat the sun gives off..
ok...stand on the equator....
work out the distance of the sun to how long it takes you to die..
20 minutes by 100000000 miles equals
damn hot.....
2007-06-25 08:17:35 · answer #5 · answered by tim 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
it's very very hot. that's layman enough for you?
2007-06-23 22:00:04 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋