N°1 - Solar energy

Ce dossier en langue anglaise est identique au dossier "Réchauffement climatique - Partie 1"

Our galaxy (the Milky Way) lies among hundreds of billions of other large galaxies that constitute the universe, and in itself contains several hundreds of billions of stars… our sun being one of them.

Similarly to all stars, the mass of the sun is so large that the atoms compressed at its center are subject to reactions of nuclear fusion whose power equals to 3.826 х E26 [W]. This energy is radiated towards space as electromagnetic radiation such as visible light. A “tiny part” of the radiated power (1.744 х E17 [W]) reaches the atmosphere of our planet at a rate of 342 [W/m²](*).

 (*) Averaged over a one year period and scaled to the total ground surface of the Earth (continents and oceans).

Out of the ...