Chapter 11, Problem 98A

To determine

The forms in which solar energy is received and the form that can be used and the consequence that follows when the Sun’s energy is used.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

Due to the nuclear fission of hydrogen gas present in the core of the sun, an enormous amount of energy is released in the form of visible radiation and electromagnetic radiation. Travelling through the vacuum medium of space, this electromagnetic radiation enters the earth’s atmosphere and is absorbed by it.

Oceans and lands absorb the electromagnetic radiation in the form heat or thermal energy. The visible part of radiation absorbed by plant through chemical process, called photosynthesis. There are many other reactions which is carried out by sunlight, such as the production of ozone.

There is other various chemical process which help in the digestion of food, to think, to move and to build tissues, carried out by electromagnetic radiation.

The remainder part of the energy disperses back into the universe in the form of electromagnetic radiation.