The 10 Great major Applications of Solar Energy

The sun is an amazing and renewable resource that has the energy to gasoline existence on earth and provide smooth, sustainable strength to all of its population. In fact, greater strength from the sun reaches our planet in one hour than is utilized by the whole population of the arena in one year. Solar energy systems confer with technology that convert the Solar’s warmness or mild to some other shape of energy to be used. Solar is a renewable aid and does now not emit any greenhouse gases inside the energy era system. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) is a generation that converts sunlight into direct contemporary strength by way of the usage of semiconductors. Solar Thermal is a era that makes use of the heat electricity from the solar for heating or electricity production. Solar can be paired with batteries for power garage, solar electric powered systems can be impartial of the software grid, making them fee-effective for far flung places. Sunlight varies relying on geographic region, season, and time of day. Here is the listing of 10 main applications of Solar Energy.

1.Solar Water Heating

black and silver solar panels
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Solar water heating is a clean, reliable and value-powerful era that is lowering application bills for lots of houses and businesses. Solar water heating is included in the term “sun heating and cooling technologies,” in conjunction with sun pool heating, sun space heating, sun cooling, and solar business manner pre-heating. A sun water heating system collects the thermal electricity of the sun and makes use of it to warmth water to be used by using a domestic or business, as opposed to using electricity or herbal gasoline. The sun collector gathers the heat from sun radiation and transfers the warmth to potable water. This heated water flows out of the collector to a hot water tank, and is used as essential; this kind of device is known as open-loop, or an immediate system. Auxiliary heating can remain linked to the new water tank for again-up if essential.

An oblique gadget is used in less warm climates with the possibility of freezing temperatures. In less warm climates with the opportunity of freezing temperatures, an oblique system is used. An antifreeze answer, which includes non-toxic propylene glycol, is heated inside the solar collector and circulated to the hot water storage tank thru a warmth exchanger. The transportable water within the garage tank is warmed with the aid of the recent, antifreeze-stuffed warmness exchanger, and the heated water can then be used as essential, while the cooled glycol is piped returned to the solar collector to be heated again. Another commonplace type of sun water heating machine layout for bloodless climates is called “drainback.” This sort of sun electricity gadget typically uses water as the heat switch fluid, and is designed to permit all the water within the solar collector to “drain returned” to a preserving tank in a heated portion of the constructing it’s far used on. When no daylight is to be had for heating, the sun pump turns off and the water flows into the drainback tank via gravity. Solar water heating creditors produce warmth, and are specific from photovoltaic (PV) modules, which produce energy. Both solar water heating systems and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems involve collector panels, they are very one of a kind technology. Solar water heating systems use radiation from the solar to generate warmness for water, whereas sun electric systems use solar radiation to at once generate strength.

2.Solar heating of building

city road landscape water
Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com

The use of daylight to warmth water or air in buildings is referred to as Solar heating of homes. There are types of solar heating, passive and lively. Passive heating is predicated on architectural layout to warmness buildings. The constructing’s website, shape, and substances can all be utilized to maximize the heating and lights effect of the daylight falling on it, thereby reducing or maybe removing its fuel requirement. A well-insulated building with a massive glass window going through south, for instance, can efficiently entice warmness on sunny days and decrease reliance on fuel or oil or power. Entering sunlight warms the air and the stable surfaces in the ones rooms uncovered to it, and this warm temperature is carried to other rooms in the building with the aid of herbal convection. Interior finishes together with brick or tile are frequently integrated into buildings to absorb the daylight and reradiate the warmth at night time.

In energetic heating, mechanical means are used to save, gather, and distribute sun power in buildings as a way to provide hot water or area heating. The daylight falling on a building’s collector array is converted to warmth, which is transferred to a provider fluid that is then pumped to a conversion, garage, and distribution gadget. In liquid-based totally systems, water is pumped via tubes that are in contact with a flat-plate collector. The latter is a blackened steel plate that absorbs daylight and is insulated on the front with layers of glass and air; the glass lets in visible mild to fall at the plate however traps the ensuing warmness, that is then transferred to the carrier fluid. Alternatively, the fluid can be pumped thru an evacuated glass tube or a quantity of space onto which a large volume of sunlight has been concentrated by way of reflecting mirrors. After choosing up warmth from the collector, the carrier fluid is pumped all the way down to an insulated garage tank, where it is able to be used immediately or saved for later use. The system can supply a domestic with hot water drawn from the storage tank, or, with the warmed water flowing through tubes in flooring and ceilings, it may offer space heating. The storage tank lets in water heated for the duration of sunny periods for use at night or in the course of cloudy days. If the provider fluid contains antifreeze to preserve it from freezing all through bloodless weather, a heat exchanger is used to switch the carrier fluid’s heat to water that can be used for home purposes. Residential heating systems the usage of flat-plate creditors commonly heat service fluids.

3.Solar-Distillation

alternative alternative energy clouds eco energy
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

There is a amazing need to find methods to deliver water for the Earth’s populace. Many countries are facing water shortages and/or have citizens who use and drink infected water. Finding one of a kind approaches to apply our renewable sources has turn out to be an interest. Solar water distillation is the manner of the use of power from the daylight to separate freshwater from salts or other contaminants. The untreated water absorbs heat, slowly accomplishing excessive temperatures. The warmness reasons the water to evaporate, cool, and condense into vapour, leaving the contaminants behind. Solar stills may be used for low ability and self-reliant water supplying structures. Solar water distillers or solar stills are commonly utilized in faraway regions wherein there is limited get entry to to freshwater. The basic principles of solar water distillation are simple, yet powerful, as distillation replicates the way nature makes rain. A sun nonetheless works on scientific concepts: evaporation and condensation. The salts and minerals do not evaporate with the water. For instance, table salt does not grow to be vapour till it gets to a temperature over 1400ºC. However, it nevertheless does take a sure amount of energy for water to show into water vapour. While a positive amount of power is needed to elevate the temperature of a kilogram of water from 0ºC to 100ºC, it takes 5 and one-1/2 instances that a whole lot to change it from water at 100ºC to water vapour at 100ºC. Practically all this energy, however, is given again while the water vapour condenses.

4.Solar Pumping

black solar panels on brown roof
Photo by Vivint Solar on Pexels.com

Clean and regular water deliver is mandatory however the range of humans at gift now not have this simple provision. The sun pump using a solar electricity gadget is an attractive generation with environmentally as well as socially for offering the water in remote places. So this is constantly an economically selected era. Generally, foreign places especially rely upon diesel engines, manpower for offering the water. These pumps update the existing pumps to provide many benefits like climate-associated, and socioeconomic. These pumps are mainly relevant in irrigation, and water inventory. Solar pump makes use of sun electricity to feature. Solar-pumps are sturdy, set up is straightforward, minimum upkeep is essential and very steeply-priced while we compare with ordinary water pumps. The life span of these pumps is a maximum of twenty years. But time to time the sun panels need to be cleaned for walking. These sorts of pumps particularly used in which there is an power problem in any other case consistent power supply isn’t reachable. The sun pump block diagram specifically consists of a sun panel, water pump, electric motor, and controller. This pump is essentially an electrical pump, and this pump makes use of the strength which is received from the sun panels to paintings. These panels keep the energy from the solar. The electric powered motor manages the alternating modern-day or direct contemporary. The controller used on this system adjusts the output power as well as speed.

5.Solar Drying of Agricultural and Animal products

man working with dried tea
Photo by Quang Nguyen Vinh on Pexels.com

Preservation of agricultural produce is one of the imperative troubles confronted with the aid of developing nations. And as time goes on, these issues may be annoyed via the growing nutritional desires of the ever growing population of those nations. In many developing nations large quantities of end result and veggies spoil because of inadequate infrastructure, insufficient processing capacities, and developing advertising difficulties because of intensifying competition and protectionism in the global agricultural markets. Up to 70 in step with cent of agricultural merchandise damage at some point of the traditional system of open-air drying, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Drying these merchandise can help resolve these problems, even as additionally making an crucial contribution to enhancing the populace’s income and deliver scenario. Drying is an vital shape of meals renovation that is regularly achieved at farm level proper after harvest, or particularly with noticeably perishable plants, at height harvest time whilst local markets are saturated. Drying veggies, fruits and meat with thermal electricity enables longer garage instances and easier transportation. Up to 70 in line with cent of agricultural products smash at some point of the traditional manner of open-air drying, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Agricultural merchandise may be dried open-air or unimproved, at once inside the solar, with biomass or in solar dryers. Open-air or unimproved drying takes area when food is exposed to the sun and wind by way of placing it in trays, on racks, or on the floor. The benefit of drying merchandise immediately open-air is that almost no prices for gasoline and home equipment need to be spent via the farmer. However, the dried products are frequently of decrease best because of varying temperature levels and contamination of the goods with dust, vermin’s and leaves.

6.Solar Furnaces

yellow sphere illustration
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Solar energy can be used in lots of wonderful approaches. One of the most majestic applications of solar thermal power is the solar furnace. These are giant installations that employ sun thermal energy for extreme high heat methods. The era is first rate for excessive temperature researchers; the warmth produced is very smooth and not using a pollution. There are a variety of uses for this power, such as hydrogen gas manufacturing, foundry packages and high temperature substances testing. Thus technology can increase without big electricity bills. Research can take location in areas previously deemed too pricey or polluting to be worthwhile. Solar power is to thank. The furnace makes use of a big parabolic reflector concentrating the solar into a place the size of the not unusual cooking pot. The reflector is discrete; 63 man or woman flat mirrors track the sun in unison and redirect the sun thermal electricity closer to the crucible. Another software of comparable era is the SolarBeam parabolic concentrator from Solartron Energy Systems. It makes use of a single dish, monitoring the sun on axes, to awareness the solar thermal power onto an absorber about 10”x10”. The tool is appreciably smaller than commercial sun furnaces, however operates on the identical concept. By focusing, and thereby multiplying, solar strength, one may additionally yield remarkable efficiencies in solar thermal electricity.

7.Solar Cooking

cooking burgers on the grill
Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

A solar cooker, or solar oven, is a tool which makes use of the power of daylight to heat food or drink to cook dinner it or sterilize it. High-tech versions, for instance electric powered ovens powered with the aid of sun cells, are possible, and have some benefits inclusive of being capable of paintings in diffuse light. However at gift they’re very unusual because they’re steeply-priced. The massive majority of the solar cookers presently in use are incredibly reasonably-priced, low-tech devices, tremendous for use in developing international locations. A sun cooker is a device which makes use of the strength of direct daylight to warmth, cook or pasteurize drink and different food materials. Many sun cookers currently in use are notably inexpensive, low-tech gadgets, despite the fact that some are as powerful or as highly-priced as conventional stoves, and advanced, big-scale solar cookers can cook for masses of human beings. Because they use no gas and cost nothing to function, many nonprofit agencies are promoting their use international with a view to assist lessen fuel expenses and air pollutants, and to help gradual down deforestation and desertification., A sun cooker is a device which makes use of the strength of direct sunlight to warmth, cook dinner or pasteurize drink and other meals materials. Many sun cookers currently in use are exceedingly inexpensive, low-tech gadgets, even though some are as powerful or as high priced as traditional stoves, and advanced, big-scale solar cookers can cook for masses of humans. Because they use no gas and value not anything to operate, many nonprofit groups are selling their use worldwide so as to help lessen gasoline charges and air pollutants, and to assist sluggish down deforestation and desertification.

8.Solar Electric energy Generation

black metal bridge over body of water
Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com

Solar radiation may be transformed directly into energy with the aid of sun cells (photovoltaic cells). In such cells, a small electric powered voltage is generated when mild strikes the junction among a metal and a semiconductor (Silicon) or the junction between special semiconductors. The strength generated by way of a unmarried photovoltaic cellular is normally only about two watts. By connecting big numbers of person cells together, however, as in solar-panel arrays, masses or maybe lots of kilowatts of electrical electricity can be generated in a sun electric plant or in a massive family array. The strength efficiency of most gift-day photovoltaic cells is best approximately 15 to 20 percent, and, since the intensity of sun radiation is low to start with, huge and luxurious assemblies of such cells are required to supply even mild quantities of strength. When daylight moves a solar cell, an electron is freed by using the photoelectric effect. The dissimilar semiconductors possess a natural distinction in electric powered ability, which causes the electrons to go with the flow thru the outside circuit, presenting power to the weight. The go with the flow of energy consequences from the characteristics of the semiconductors and is powered completely with the aid of mild placing the cellular.

9.Solar Thermal power manufacturing

buildings sun technology lighting
Photo by Flash Dantz on Pexels.com

Concentrating solar-thermal electricity (CSP) technologies use mirrors to reflect and listen sunlight onto a receiver. The energy from the concentrated daylight heats a excessive temperature fluid within the receiver. This heat – also known as thermal electricity – may be used to spin a turbine or electricity an engine to generate power. It also can be utilized in a variety of commercial applications, like water desalination, enhanced oil recuperation, meals processing, chemical production, and mineral processing. Concentrating sun-thermal electricity systems are generally used for application-scale projects. These utility-scale CSP plants can be configured in specific ways. Power tower structures set up mirrors round a important tower that acts as the receiver. Linear systems have rows of mirrors that concentrate the daylight onto parallel tube receivers located above them. Smaller CSP structures can be located immediately where strength is wanted. For example, unmarried dish/engine systems can produce 5 to 25 kilowatts of strength consistent with dish and be used in distributed applications.

10.Solar Green Houses

photo of clear glass building
Photo by Dominika Gregušová on Pexels.com

Solar greenhouses capture the light power of the sun and convert it into warmness energy and keep it. This heat is used to hold heat-weather flowers from struggling throughout the intense cold of iciness nights. Many out of season flowers too are grown in a greenhouse for the duration of the wintry weather months. The glass or plastic in a greenhouse’s partitions and roof let in the short waves of the solar mild. This is then absorbed via the earth and flowers in a greenhouse and converted into warmness electricity. This strength cannot get away via the glass or plastic due to the fact the heat waves are longer than the light waves. The heated ground then warms the air immediately above it. This makes the air lighter and it rises, being changed via cooler air from the pinnacle. Through this convection method, the complete greenhouse is heated. A solar greenhouse calls for much less synthetic heating than a ordinary greenhouse within the harsh iciness months. The amount of additional heating required will depend upon the vicinity of the greenhouse and the climate winning for your place.

Tagged : / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

THE LARGEST PLANETS OF SOLAR SYSTEM ACCORDING TO SIZE

Our solar system consists of our star, the Sun, and everything bound to it by gravity — the planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, dwarf planets such as Pluto, dozens of moons and millions of asteroids, comets and meteoroids. The most recent definition of a planet was adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2006. It says a planet must do three things: The Sun, and everything that orbits it, is located in the Milky Way galaxy. Must orbit a star (in our cosmic neighborhood, the Sun). It must be big enough to have enough gravity to force it into a spherical shape. It must be big enough that its gravity cleared away any other objects of a similar size near its orbit around the Sun. This is a partial list of Solar System objects by size, arranged in descending order of mean volumetric radius, and divided into several size classes. These lists can also be sorted according to an object’s mass and, for the largest objects, volume, density and surface gravity, insofar as these values are available.

1.Jupiter

In our solar system Jupiter is at nearly 11 times the size of Earth and 317 times its mass with a radius of 43,440.7 miles (69,911 kilometers). Despite its size, Jupiter has the shortest day of any other planet; it only takes about 10 hours for a complete rotation. In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei used a new invention called the telescope to look at Jupiter and discovered the first moons known to exist beyond Earth. The discovery ended incorrect, ancient belief that everything, including the Sun and other planets, orbited the Earth. From an average distance of 484 million miles (778 million kilometers), Jupiter is 5.2 astronomical units away from the Sun. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined. Jupiter’s familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years. Jupiter is the fifth planet from our Sun. Jupiter is surrounded by dozens of moons. Jupiter also has several rings, but unlike the famous rings of Saturn, Jupiter’s rings are very faint and made of dust, not ice. Jupiter spins nearly upright and does not have seasons as extreme as other planets do. Jupiter has a central core of solid material or if it may be a thick, super-hot and dense soup. It could be up to 90,032 degrees Fahrenheit (50,000 degrees Celsius).
Jupiter has the same ingredients as a star, but it did not grow massive enough to ignite. Jupiter doesn’t have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids. It may also have a rocky core of heavier elements. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Jupiter. Jupiter’s appearance is a tapestry of colorful cloud bands and spots. With four large moons and many smaller moons, Jupiter forms a kind of miniature solar system. Jupiter has 53 confirmed moons and 26 provisional moons awaiting confirmation of discovery. Jupiter’s four largest moons—Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Jupiter’s environment is probably not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to. It is on average the third-brightest natural object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. it was named after the king of the gods in Roman mythology. In a similar manner, the ancient Greeks named the planet after Zeus, the king of the Greek pantheon. Jupiter’s immense volume could hold more than 1,300 Earths. That means that if Jupiter were the size of a basketball, Earth would be the size of a grape.

2.Saturn

Saturn is the sixth planet from our Sun (a star) and orbits at a distance of about 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers) from the Sun. The rings we see are made of groups of tiny ringlets that surround Saturn. They’re made of chunks of ice and rock. Twice every 29 and a half years the great planet Saturn appears ringless. Saturn is heavily present in pop culture. Like Jupiter, Saturn is mostly a ball of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is unique among the planets with a radius of 36,183.7 miles (58,232 kilometers)and 9 times wider than Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Saturn would be about as big as a volleyball. It is Surrounded by more than 60 known moons. The Saturn system is a rich source of scientific discovery and still holds many mysteries. From an average distance of 886 million miles (1.4 billion kilometers), Saturn is 9.5 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it takes sunlight 80 minutes to travel from the Sun to Saturn.
Saturn has the second-shortest day in the solar system. It’s hard to imagine, but Saturn is the only planet in our solar system whose average density is less than water. The planet is mostly swirling gases and liquids deeper down. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Saturn, it wouldn’t be able to fly through unscathed either. The extreme pressures and temperatures deep inside the planet crush, melt and vaporize spacecraft trying to fly into the planet. The planet is many different shades of yellow, brown and grey. Saturn’s magnetic field is smaller than Jupiter’s but still 578 times as powerful as Earth’s. Saturn’s rings are thought to be pieces of comets, asteroids or shattered moons that broke up before they reached the planet, torn apart by Saturn’s powerful gravity. Saturn’s ring system extends up to 175,000 miles (282,000 kilometers) from the planet, yet the vertical height is typically about 30 feet (10 meters) in the main rings. Saturn’s environment is not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.

3.Uranus

Uranus was discovered in 1781 by astronomer William Herschel. The planet was named for Uranus, the Greek god of the sky. The seventh planet from the Sun with the third largest diameter in our solar system, Uranus is very cold and windy. The ice giant is surrounded by 13 faint rings and 27 small moons as it rotates at a nearly 90-degree angle. This unique tilt makes Uranus appear to spin on its side, orbiting the Sun like a rolling ball. One day Uranus takes about 17 hours to rotate and Uranus makes a complete orbit around the Sun in about 84 Earth years. Uranus is the only planet whose equator is nearly at a right angle to its orbit. With a radius of 15,759.2 miles (25,362 kilometers), Uranus is 4 times wider than Earth. If Earth was the size of a nickel, Uranus would be about as big as a softball. From an average distance of 1.8 billion miles (2.9 billion kilometers), Uranus is 19.8 astronomical units away from the Sun. It takes sunlight 2 hours and 40 minutes to travel from the Sun to Uranus.

Uranus is also one of just two planets that rotate in the opposite direction than most of the planets (Venus is the other one), from east to west. Uranus is slightly larger in diameter than its neighbor Neptune. Most (80 percent or more) of the planet’s mass is made up of a hot dense fluid of “icy” materials—water, methane and ammonia—above a small rocky core. Near the core, it heats up to 9,000 degrees Fahrenheit (4,982 degrees Celsius). Uranus gets its blue-green color from methane gas in the atmosphere. Sunlight passes through the atmosphere and is reflected back out by Uranus’ cloud tops. Uranus doesn’t have a true surface. The planet is mostly swirling fluids. While a spacecraft would have nowhere to land on Uranus, it wouldn’t be able to fly through its atmosphere unscathed either. Uranus’ atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium, with a small amount of methane and traces of water and ammonia. The methane gives Uranus its signature blue color. Uranus has an unusual, irregularly shaped magnetosphere. Uranus’ environment is not conducive to life as we know it. Uranus has been visited only once by a spacecraft: Voyager 2.

4.Neptune

Dark, cold and whipped by supersonic winds, ice giant Neptune is the eighth and most distant planet in our solar system. Neptune has 14 known moons. Neptune’s largest moon Triton was discovered on October 10, 1846, by William Lassell. More than 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth, Neptune is the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye. Neptune is our solar system’s windiest world. Neptune is the farthest planet from our Sun. Neptune is very similar to Uranus. It’s made of a thick soup of water, ammonia, and methane over an Earth-sized solid center. Its atmosphere is made of hydrogen, helium, and methane. The methane gives Neptune the same blue color as Uranus. Neptune has six rings, but they’re very hard to see. The warm light we see here on our home planet is roughly 900 times as bright as sunlight on Neptune. The ice giant Neptune was discovered in 1846. With a radius of 15,299.4 miles (24,622 kilometers), Neptune is about four times wider than Earth.
If Earth were the size of a nickel, Neptune would be about as big as a baseball. From an average distance of 2.8 billion miles (4.5 billion kilometers), Neptune is 30 astronomical units away from the Sun. From this distance, it takes sunlight 4 hours to travel from the Sun to Neptune. Neptune takes about 16 hours to rotate or spin once. And Neptune makes a complete orbit around the Sun in about 165 Earth years (60,190 Earth days). Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune. Scientists think there might be an ocean of super hot water under Neptune’s cold clouds. It does not boil away because incredibly high pressure keeps it locked inside. Neptune does not have a solid surface. Its atmosphere extends to great depths, gradually merging into water and other melted ices over a heavier, solid core with about the same mass as Earth. Neptune is a more vivid, brighter blue. Neptune’s winds can be three times stronger than Jupiter’s and nine times stronger than Earth’s. Neptune’s environment is not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.

5.Earth

The name Earth is a Germanic word with a radius of 3,959 miles (6,371 kilometers), which simply means “the ground. “Our home planet is the third planet from the Sun, and the only place we know of so far that’s inhabited by living things. While Earth is only the fifth largest planet in the solar system. it is the only world in our solar system with liquid water on the surface. Just slightly larger than nearby Venus, Earth is the biggest of the four planets closest to the Sun, all of which are made of rock and metal. Earth is the only planet that has a single moon. Our Moon is the brightest and most familiar object in the night sky. The Moon is an average of 238,855 miles (384,400 kilometers) away from Earth. From an average distance of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers), Earth is exactly one astronomical unit away from the Sun. It takes about eight minutes for light from the Sun to reach our planet.
As Earth orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 23.9 hours. It takes 365.25 days to complete one trip around the Sun. That extra quarter of a day presents a challenge to our calendar system, which counts one year as 365 days. To keep our yearly calendars consistent with our orbit around the Sun, every four years we add one day. That day is called a leap day, and the year it’s added to is called a leap year. Earth is composed of four main layers, starting with an inner core at the planet’s center, enveloped by the outer core, mantle and crust. It has a solid and active surface with mountains, valleys, canyons, plains and so much more. Earth is special because it is an ocean planet. Water covers 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Earth’s atmosphere is made mostly of nitrogen and has plenty of oxygen for us to breathe. The atmosphere also protects us from incoming meteoroids, most of which break up before they can hit the surface. Earth’s global ocean, which covers nearly 70 percent of the planet’s surface, has an average depth of about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) and contains 97 percent of Earth’s water. Earth has an atmosphere that consists of 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, and 1 percent other gases such as argon, carbon dioxide and neon.

6.venus

Similar in size and structure to Earth, Venus has been called Earth’s twin. These are not identical twins, however – there are radical differences between the two worlds. Venus is the second planet from the Sun, and is Earth’s closest neighbor in the solar system. Venus is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, and sometimes looks like a bright star in the morning or evening sky. Average diameter of Venus is about 7,500 miles. Surface temperature is 864 degress Fahrenheit. Venus has a thick, toxic atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide. It’s perpetually shrouded in thick, yellowish clouds of mostly sulfuric acid that trap heat, causing a runaway greenhouse effect. It’s the hottest planet in our solar system.
The surface of Venus is not where you’d like to be, with temperatures that can melt lead, an atmosphere so thick it would crush you, and clouds of sulfuric acid that smell like rotten eggs. you couldn’t breathe the air, you would be crushed by the enormous weight of the atmosphere, and you would burn up in surface temperatures high enough to melt lead. The atmosphere traps the small amount of energy from the sun that does reach the surface along with the heat the planet itself releases. It is always found near the Sun. It rises and sets each day, so it has the nicknames Morning and Evening Star! Scientists found that Venus rotates backwards. This means that on Venus the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.

7.Mars

Mars has a thin atmosphere made up mostly of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon gases. It is frequently called the “Red Planet” because iron minerals in the Martian dirt oxidize, or rust, causing the surface to look red. Today, a science fleet of robotic spacecraft study Mars from all angles. With a radius of 2,106 miles (3,390 kilometers), Mars is about half the size of Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mars would be about as big as a raspberry. From an average distance of 142 million miles (228 million kilometers), Mars is 1.5 astronomical units away from the Sun. One astronomical unit (abbreviated as AU), is the distance from the Sun to Earth. From this distance, it takes sunlight 13 minutes to travel from the Sun to Mars. As Mars orbits the Sun, it completes one rotation every 24.6 hours, which is very similar to one day on Earth (23.9 hours). Like Earth, Mars has distinct seasons, but they last longer than seasons here on Earth since Mars takes longer to orbit the Sun. On Mars the seasons vary in length because of Mars’ elliptical, egg-shaped orbit around the Sun. Mars has a dense core at its center between 930 and 1,300 miles (1,500 to 2,100 kilometers) in radius. It’s made of iron, nickel and sulfur. Surrounding the core is a rocky mantle between 770 and 1,170 miles (1,240 to 1,880 kilometers) thick, and above that, a crust made of iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium and potassium. This crust is between 6 and 30 miles (10 to 50 kilometers) deep.

Mars formed when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become the fourth planet from the Sun. The Red Planet is actually many colors. At the surface we see colors such as brown, gold and tan. Mars is home to the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons. It’s three times taller than Earth’s Mt. Everest. Mars appears to have had a watery past, with ancient river valley networks, deltas and lakebeds, as well as rocks and minerals on the surface that could only have formed in liquid water. There is water on Mars today, but the Martian atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist for long on the surface. The temperature on Mars can be as high as 70 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) or as low as about -225 degrees Fahrenheit (-153 degrees Celsius). Mars has no global magnetic field today. Mars has two small moons, Phobos and Deimos. Phobos, the innermost and larger moon, is slowly moving towards Mars and will crash into the planet or break apart in about 50 million years. Scientists don’t expect to find living things currently thriving on Mars.

8.Mercury

The smallest planet in our solar system and nearest to the Sun, Mercury is only slightly larger than Earth’s Moon. It doesn’t have any moons. Mercury is the fastest planet, zipping around the Sun every 88 Earth days. With a radius of 1,516 miles (2,440 kilometers), Mercury is a little more than 1/3 the width of Earth. If Earth were the size of a nickel, Mercury would be about as big as a blueberry. From an average distance of 36 million miles (58 million kilometers), Mercury is 0.4 astronomical units away from the Sun. It takes sunlight 3.2 minutes to travel from the Sun to Mercury. Mercury’s highly eccentric, egg-shaped orbit takes the planet as close as 29 million miles (47 million kilometers) and as far as 43 million miles (70 million kilometers) from the Sun. Mercury spins slowly on its axis and completes one rotation every 59 Earth days. Mercury is the second densest planet, after Earth. It has a large metallic core with a radius of about 1,289 miles (2,074 kilometers), about 85 percent of the planet’s radius.

Mercury has a central core, a rocky mantle and a solid crust. It’s actually not the hottest. Along with Venus, Earth, and Mars, Mercury is one of the rocky planets. Mercury spins slowly compared to Earth. Mercury takes 59 Earth days to make one full rotation. It goes around the Sun in just 88 Earth days. Most of Mercury’s surface would appear greyish-brown to the human eye. Temperatures on the surface of Mercury are extreme, both hot and cold. During the day, temperatures on Mercury’s surface can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit (430 degrees Celsius). Because the planet has no atmosphere to retain that heat, nighttime temperatures on the surface can drop to minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 180 degrees Celsius).  Mercury’s environment is not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures and solar radiation that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme for organisms to adapt to.

9.Pluto

Pluto is a complex and mysterious world with mountains, valleys, plains, craters, and maybe glaciers. Discovered in 1930, Pluto was long considered our solar system’s ninth planet. Icy Pluto was reclassified as a dwarf planet. Pluto is orbited by five known moons, the largest of which is Charon. Charon is about half the size of Pluto itself. Pluto and Charon are often referred to as a “double planet.” With a radius of 715 miles (1,151 kilometers), Pluto is about 1/6 the width of Earth. If Earth was the size of a nickel, Pluto would be about as big as a popcorn kernel. From an average distance of 3.7 billion miles (5.9 billion kilometers), Pluto is 39 astronomical units away from the sun. It takes sunlight 5.5 hours to travel from the sun to Pluto. Pluto’s orbit around the sun is unusual compared to the planets. Pluto was actually closer to the sun than Neptune. One day on Pluto takes about 153 hours. Pluto is about two-thirds the diameter of Earth’s moon and probably has a rocky core surrounded by a mantle of water ice. Interesting ices like methane and nitrogen frost coat its surface.

Due to its lower density, Pluto’s mass is about one-sixth that of Earth’s moon. Pluto’s surface is characterized by mountains, valleys, plains, and craters. The temperature on Pluto can be as cold as -375 to -400 degrees Fahrenheit (-226 to -240 degrees Celsius). Pluto’s mountains can be as tall as 6,500 to 9,800 feet (2 to 3 kilometers) and are big blocks of water ice, sometimes with a coating of frozen gases like methane. Craters as large as 162 miles (260 kilometers) in diameter dot some of the landscape on Pluto, with some showing signs of erosion and filling. The main constituent is molecular nitrogen, though molecules of methane and carbon monoxide have also been detected. Pluto’s low gravity (about six percent of Earth’s) causes the atmosphere to be much more extended in altitude than our planet’s atmosphere. Pluto has a magnetic field. There are no known rings around Pluto. Pluto has five known moons: Charon, Nix, Hydra, Kerberos and Styx. The surface of Pluto is extremely cold, so it seems unlikely that life could exist there. At such cold temperatures, water, which is vital for life as we know it, is essentially rock-like. Pluto’s interior is warmer, however, and some think there could even be an ocean deep inside.

Tagged : / / / / / / / / /