Has nuthin' to do : is this true , is the sun benign? How importatnt is it
in respect of how warm it keeps us and what grows?

On Mar 26, 12:02*am, "Lawrence Jenkins" wrote:
Has nuthin' to do : is this true , is the sun benign? How importatnt is it
in respect of how warm it keeps us and what grows?

The Sun is the source of 99.9% of the heat on the surface of the
Earth. But its strength varies over the sun-spot cycle. Moreover the
solar constant is not constant and has increased by 30% since the
Earth was formed, and is now refusing to recover from its last solar
minimum.

Cheers, Alastair.

In article ,
Lawrence Jenkins writes:
Has nuthin' to do : is this true , is the sun benign? How importatnt is it
in respect of how warm it keeps us and what grows?



Is the last question intended to be rhetorical? If the sun wasn't there,
Earth would be frozen solid, possibly with some of the gases in the
atmosphere turning into liquid form. There'd be a certain amount of heat
escaping from the molten core of the planet, but not enough to prevent
it being extremely cold.
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

"John Hall" wrote in message
Is the last question intended to be rhetorical? If the sun wasn't there,
Earth would be frozen solid, possibly with some of the gases in the
atmosphere turning into liquid form. There'd be a certain amount of heat
escaping from the molten core of the planet, but not enough to prevent
it being extremely cold.
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

Not sure about that one John, without the gravitational hold of the sun, the
Earths core would be long since frozen solid.

Alex.

Not sure about that one John, without the gravitational hold of the sun,
the Earths core would be long since frozen solid.

Isn't the Earth's inner heat maintained by radioactivity?

We once had one of the those 'drunken' debates a few years back on what
would happen to the Earth if the sun went out. Wild guesses about how long
it would take for the oceans to freeze solid from the poles to the equator,
and then afterwards the atmosphere would shrink, liquefy then freeze solid
as well except for the areas where heat continues to reach the surface from
below the Earth's crust.
______________________
Nick
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http:\\www.ottervalley.co.uk

In message , Alex Stephens Jr
writes

"John Hall" wrote in message
Is the last question intended to be rhetorical? If the sun wasn't there,
Earth would be frozen solid, possibly with some of the gases in the
atmosphere turning into liquid form. There'd be a certain amount of heat
escaping from the molten core of the planet, but not enough to prevent
it being extremely cold.
--
John Hall
"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people
from coughing."
Sir Ralph Richardson (1902-83)

Not sure about that one John, without the gravitational hold of the sun, the
Earths core would be long since frozen solid.

Alex.


One the one hand, the internal heat of the earth is generally believed
to be predominantly produced by radioactive decay, latent heat of
solidification at the inner/outer core boundary, and release of
potential energy through gravitational sorting - not from tidal heating.
That is the absence of the sun (and moon) wouldn't result in a cold
Earth interior.

One the other hand, most of the interior of the Earth is, if not frozen
solid, squashed solid. It just happens to be at pressures at which
solids flow, slowly.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley