Difference Between Earth and Sun

Edited by Diffzy | Updated on: April 30, 2023

       

Difference Between Earth and Sun

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Introduction

The amount of daylight received by the planet and its distance from the sun both affect the seasons and even biodiversity. How much sun an area receives is determined by its tilt, not its proximity to the sun, such as the tilt of the earth's axis. There are several differences between the earth and the sun. Some things are obvious, some things aren't.

And all of the noteworthy and dramatic differences between the two heavenly bodies are described in this article.

Earth vs Sun

The fact that Earth is a planet and Sun is a star is a primary distinction between them. Aside from this fundamental distinction, the earth is formed of solid rock whereas the sun is primarily composed of dangerous gases. Since the Earth is constructed of rocks as opposed to the Sun, which is composed of hot, flammable gas clouds, the Earth has what is known as a "landform" that the Sun does not.

Difference Between Earth and Sun in Tabular Form

Parameters of Comparison Earth Sun
The atmosphere Earth has a single atmosphere with numerous layers. The Sun produces eruptive solar flares all around its surface despite having no atmosphere.
The radius The radius of the Earth is 6371 kilometers. 695,500 kilometers.
The composition Water and rocks, as well as numerous organic and inorganic substances. In addition to hydrogen and helium, the sun also contains a small amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
The formation Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago. 4.65 billion years.

What is Earth?

Our home planet is Earth. According to scientists, the formation of Earth and its moon coincided with that of the rest of the solar system. The estimated age of that event is 4.5 billion years ago. The solar system's fifth-largest planet is Earth. Its circumference is roughly 8,000 kilometers. The third-closest planet to the sun as Earth. It is 93 million kilometers away from the sun on average. The closest planets are Venus and Mercury.

Now, only Earth is known to have a significant amount of liquid water. As it's very well known that Life cannot exist without liquid water. Hence, the only planet on which life is known to exist is our Earth.

So, the earth seems to be a blue marble with white swirls and regions of brown, yellow, green, and white as viewed from space. Water, which makes up around 71% of the Earth's surface, is represented by blue. The swirls of white are clouds. The land is depicted by the brown, yellow, and green patches. And the white parts are made up of snow and ice.

Earth is divided into two halves by an imaginary circle known as the equator. The Northern Hemisphere is the name given to the northern half. The Southern Hemisphere is the name given to the southern half. The North Pole is where Earth's northernmost point is located. The South Pole is where the Earth's southernmost point is located.

For more than 2,000 years, people have understood that the Earth is a sphere. The ancient Greeks estimated the circumference of the Earth and measured shadows during the summer solstice. To calculate distances on Earth, they used the positions of stars and constellations. During a lunar eclipse, they could even see the planet's spherical shadow on the moon. This is still visible during lunar eclipses.

Moreover, Geodesy, the science of measuring the gravity, rotation, and form of the Earth, is used by scientists today. Also, accurate measurements from geodesy prove that the Earth is spherical. Plus, scientists can even measure the size and shape of the Earth within a centimeter using GPS and other satellites. Furthermore, Earth is pictured in space as being spherical like the moon.

Despite being spherical, our globe is not a perfect sphere. The North and South Poles are only slightly concave due to the force created when the Earth rotates. The planet's shape is slowly changing due to the rotation, wavy motion, and other forces, yet it is still around.

Now, the annual orbit of Earth around the sun lasts exactly 365 days. Its orbit is not nearly perfect circular in form. It is more shaped like an oval, which causes variations in Earth's annual distance from the sun. In January, when Earth is 91 million miles from the sun, it is "perihelion," or the closest to the sun. When Earth is 95 million miles from the sun in July, it is at its "aphelion," or greatest distance from the sun.

Earth rotates at just over 1,000 miles per hour at the equator. Every day, or every twenty-four hours, the Earth completes one full rotation of its axis. The axis is a hypothetical line that runs from the North Pole to the South Pole through the planet's center. The Earth's axis is slanted at an angle of 23.5 degrees, not up and down.

Now, half of Earth is always illuminated by the sun, and the other half is always in the dark. Daytime is present where there is a solar orientation. Nighttime is experienced in areas that face the sun's direction. Most locations on Earth experience a 24-hour cycle of day and night due to the planet's rotation. Depending on the season, there is perpetual sunshine or night in the North and South Poles.

Because of the tilt of its axis, Earth has seasons. As a result, depending on the season, different portions of the earth are exposed to the sun's rays more directly.

Also, the Northern Hemisphere receives more direct sunlight from June to August than the Southern Hemisphere. As a result, the Northern Hemisphere experiences warm (summer) weather while the Southern Hemisphere experiences cold (winter) weather.

Moreover, the Northern Hemisphere receives less direct sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere does from December to February. As a result, the Northern Hemisphere experienced cold (winter) while the Southern Hemisphere has warm (summer) weather.

Also, in both hemispheres, the sun shines equally from September to November. As a result, the Northern Hemisphere experiences fall, and the Southern Hemisphere experiences spring. From March through May, the light likewise shines equally on both hemispheres. As a result, the Northern Hemisphere experiences spring, while the Southern Hemisphere experiences fall.

The elements of Earth are land, air, water, and life. Mountains, valleys, and flat places can all be found on the ground. Different gases, namely nitrogen, and oxygen make up the air. Rain, snow, ice, rivers, lakes, oceans, and streams are all examples of water. People, animals, and plants are all parts of life. On Earth, there are millions of different species or types of life. They range in size from extremely little to quite huge.

What is Sun?

The sun is the star that the earth and the other planets in the solar system orbit. With more than 99 percent of the system's total mass, it is the dominant body. A portion of the tremendous quantity of energy coming from the Sun powers the light and heat that keep Earth habitable for life. The Sun is categorized as a G2 V star, which stands for the second hottest star in the yellow G class, with a surface temperature of roughly 5,800 kelvins (K). The V stands for the main sequence, or dwarf, star, which is the usual star for this temperature class. (G stars were given this name due to the prominence of the G spectral line band, which was given this name by German physicist Joseph von Fraunhofer.)

Now, the Sun, which is located in the galaxy's outermost region, was created from material that had undergone processing within a supernova. Contrary to the popular belief, the Sun is not a little star. Since there are so many dwarf stars in its near vicinity, the Sun ranks among the top 5% of stars in the region, even though being in the middle of the largest and smallest stars of its type.

Also, the surface of the Sun is so hot that no solid or liquid can exist there; instead, the majority of the material there is made up of gaseous atoms and relatively few molecules.

Now, the temperature drops to a minimum of 4,000 K and then starts to rise in the chromosphere, a layer that is approximately 7,000 kilometers high and has a temperature of 8,000 K. The temperature of the Sun decreases from 15,000,000 K at the center to 5,800 K at the photosphere.

Moreover, the Sun's energy is produced when hydrogen (H) atoms are transformed into helium (He). Since the Sun contains at least 90% of the hydrogen atoms in the universe, the fuel is easily accessible.

Plus, four hydrogen atoms are converted into one helium atom, yielding a mass unit of 0.0294, since one hydrogen atom weighs 1.0078 atomic mass units and one helium atom weighs 4.0026. This mass unit is then converted to energy, 6.8 million electron volts (MeV; 1 MeV = 1.6 106 areg), either in the form of gamma rays or the kinetic energy of the products.

Due to the Sun's extreme pressure and density, which allows for nuclei to overcome electrostatic repulsion, energy is produced during this process. Because they are positive, nuclei repel one another.

One proton (1H, where the superscript denotes the isotope's mass) gets close enough to another proton once every few billion years for what is known as inverse beta decay, in which one proton decays into a neutron and unites with the other to generate a deuteron (2D).

The energy generated in the Sun's core takes two more forms in addition to being taken away as neutrinos, which simply vanish into space. While some of it flows outside as gamma-ray photons until they are absorbed and reradiated by the nearby atoms, some of it is released as the kinetic energy of product particles, which heats the gases in the core.

The photons just scatter there into a different route because the nuclei at the core are ionized, or stripped of their electrons. The photons can only travel a few millimeters before they are scattered because of the extreme density. The result is the same farther out: the photons take a so-called "random walk" outward until they leave the Sun. Further out, the nuclei have electrons attached, allowing them to absorb and reemit the photons.

Now, a random walk's total distance is equal to the mean free path—the average distance between collisions—multiplied by the square root of the number of steps, where a step represents the space between collisions.

The photon must take 5 1019 steps to travel 7 1010 centimeters since the typical mean free path in the Sun is just approximately 10 centimeters (4 inches). This process takes 170,000 years even at the speed of light, so the light we see now was produced a long time ago. But the final journey from the surface of the Sun to Earth takes only eight minutes.

Convection takes place as the temperature gradient rises as photons are absorbed by the Sun's outer region. Heat is carried upward in large currents of hot plasma or ionized gas. The sunspot cycle may be caused by these mass migrations of conducting plasma in the convective zone, which makes up about the outer 30% of the Sun.

Main Differences Between Earth and Sun In Points

  • So, the major difference is that the sun is a star, and the earth is a planet.
  • The sun is majorly composed of harmful gases, whereas the earth is a solid piece of rock.
  • Also, the diameter of the sun is 100 times greater than that of the earth. In addition to that, it has a surface area that is 10,000 times more than Earth's and a volume that is 1,000,000 times greater.
  • Unlike the sun, the earth is a habitable planet.
  • Earth's atmosphere exists. There is no atmosphere in the sun.

Conclusion

Therefore, now we can say that we have gathered enough information about the major differences between our planet earth and the sun. it becomes an important part of our knowledge to understand our planet earth and the energy provider Sun, in a better manner.

References

  • Sun. (n.d.). Retrieved from Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Sun
  • What Is Earth? (2017, October 4). Retrieved from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-earth-58.html

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"Difference Between Earth and Sun." Diffzy.com, 2024. Fri. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.diffzy.com/article/difference-between-earth-and-sun-643>.



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