What percent of sun`s energy do actually reaches the earth?

Question

Here i am talking of the whole earth but not the surface because the total energy reaching the surface is 47% of the total that is falling in the earth`s periphery.

Answer 1

Not more than 2%

Answer 2

Actually, it's an amazingly small number. First, compute the surface area of a sphere with radius equal to the earth's orbit. Now, consider such a sphere - the sun is radiating basically equally over that entire surface. The earth's surface that's catching the suns energy is a much smaller 8,000 mile diameter sphere. The earth gets like 0.00000000001% of the output, the other 99.99999999999% goes off in other directions into space. Not sure exactly how many 9's though.But a lot. ;)

Answer 3

Sun radiates energy in all directions. It has to travel all the way from sun to earth. Let us say that this distance = "S". Imagine a hollow sphere with radius "S". Its surface area is = 4 x π x S² . In this much surface area our earth is only a minute,very minute, spot. Suns energy reaches an area 4πS², where our earth can receive only very little part, may be negligibly small comparing to the total energy of the sun.

Answer 4

The Sun radiates about 4.279 billion kilograms per seconds of micromass radiation thruout the volume of space .
The Earth Receives at the Upper atmosphere a total micromass flux of 3.926981962 kilograms per seconds.
30% of this mass flux is lost in the upper atmosphere.So the Earth only absorbs only 70% of the mass flux which is 2.748887373kilograms per second.
Therefore the percent of micromass flux from the Sun absorbed on the Earth is = mass received on the earth from sun divided by total mass lost by the sun into space is approximately equal to=6.424 x10^-8 percent of the Sun's radiation.
Which is equivalent to the Same percent of the total power lost by the Sun in Space.
So the percent of total mass flux radiation ,Energy and power are all equivalent.

Answer 5

You can calculate that.
Look up the distance from earth to sun.
Calculate the surface that a sphere with that radius would have.
Then look up the radius of the earth and calculate the surface a circle with that radius would have.
Then you just need to divide the second result by the first one and multiply by 100 to get your answer.

It's certainly much much smaller then 8 percent.

edit:
Or look it up at wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_constant

The sun outputs 3.846×10^26 W
The earth receives 1.740×10^17 W
So earth gets about 0.000000045 percent.

Answer 6

Only the radiated energy all of it almost, but intensity equations for radiation is applicable. Basic physics book have them.

Also depends on atmospheric conditions.

Answer 7

Some where around 8%.

Answer 8

yeah somewhere around 7- 9