• Question: How hot is the sun(tempretures)

    Asked by purplebee2002 to Angela, Gabriele, Karen, Maria, Shane on 14 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Angela Stevenson

      Angela Stevenson answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      The sun is very hot! about 6000 C at the surface. But if we dig deeper, it gets even hotter. At it’s core, there’s such high pressure and temperature that it can reach temperatures of more than 15 million degrees C! yikes! that’s another excellent question purplebee, great job 🙂

    • Photo: Gabriele De Chiara

      Gabriele De Chiara answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      The temperature of the sun varies from the surface to the core. It goes from 5800 Kelvin (about 5500 C) in the atmosphere to about 10 million Kelvin in the core. This value has only been predicted from models in theoretical astrophysics. At this elevated temperature nuclear reactions occur like the fusion of hydrogen to produce helium. This is the main reaction that produces the energy that gives the sun its luminosity (and its vital for our life on the earth).

    • Photo: Karen McCarthy

      Karen McCarthy answered on 14 Nov 2013:

      On a side note purplebee, the hottest manmade temperature ever recorded in the universe was over 250,00 times hotter than the center of the sun! Which as Angela just said….it pretty hot!

      This temperature was reached in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) which is located in the US, and is similar to the Large Haldron Collidor (LHC) where the Higgs Boson was discovered!

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