Thursday, February 04, 2016

[zpzsrokm] Sun volume per flux

The power density of the sun, averaged over its entire volume, is 0.271 W/m^3.  The solar constant is 1361 W/m^2.  Dividing the two values yields about 5.02 kilometers.

(Incidentally, the average power density is almost exactly 1000 times less than the calculated peak power density of 276 W/m^3 at its center.)

The energy falling on 1 square meter (or any area) of earth was generated by a 1 square meter by 5 kilometer tall chunk of the sun.

One can imagine a 5 kilometer thick spherical shell surrounding the sun at a distance of 1 AU.  This shell has the same volume as the sun.

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