How Many Grains of Sand…?
Can all the sand in the world be measured and translated into a number of grains? If all sand is included, it would be sand in deserts, sand on beaches, etc. Sand is defined as the clastic type of sediment which has grains in between the sizes of gravel and silt.
There are many equations to estimate how much sand exists on Earth. Some equations assume there ar 32 grains in a cubic millimeter of sand and then multiply it by how much land sand covers… Let’s just say it’s a very large number, and who knows for sure? It’s safe to estimate there are hundreds of thousands of billions and billions of grains of sand on our planet. That’s good enough for me!
How Many Stars…?
Our own Milky Way galaxy contains an estimated 400 billion stars or more, and there are many other galaxies out there. Our galaxy is considered large. The Triangulum galaxy is considered to be more of an average size with still appromximately 30 or 40 billion stars. For centuries humans could only see less than 10,000 stars visible to the naked eye. We now know there are millions and millions and MORE galaxies, each with their own large cluster of stars. This creates a number that’s too large for me to grasp the meaning. Many zeros at the end of that number!
Are There More Stars or Grains of Sand?
There are certainly more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on Earth. These numbers are too large for me to even begin to fathom!
Temperature of the Sun
Everyone knows the sun is hot… “How hot is it?” you all ask in unison?? I’m glad you asked.
The surface of the sun, called the photosphere, is speculated to be approximately 5500-6000 degree Celsius (about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit). Solar energy, thus heat, is created deep in the sun’s core and can reach a speculated 15,000,000 degrees Celsius (27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit). This heat gives the sun it’s yellow color. If the sun were hotter it would look more blue and if it were cooler it would be more of a reddish color. There is so much heat, pressure/gravity, and energy that nuclear reactions take place on a very regular basis.
The sun is over 100 times the size of the Earth and is composed mostly of helium and hydrogen, and the reactions inside of it fuse atoms of hydrogen together to create helium. Near the end of its lifetime the sun will begin fusing helium into heavier elements, causing it to continually swell. Because of this it will eventually consume the Earth.
Sources
http://home.att.net/~numericana/answer/sagan.htm
http://www.visindavefur.hi.is/svar.asp?id=4803
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/1997/GlyniseFinney.shtml
http://www.solarviews.com/eng/sun.htm
http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/the-sun/temperature-of-the-sun/
