• Question: Why is the sun so bright?

    Asked by to Charli, Oliver, Becky on 26 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Rebecca Williams

      Rebecca Williams answered on 26 Jun 2014:

      Hi gabriela,
      The sun is very bright because it is producing lots and lots of energy.

      The energy the sun makes is made by a process called nuclear fusion. In the sun, gravity is really really really strong. This gravity pulls the gas that the sun is made up of into its centre. In the centre of the sun it is 15 million degrees Celsius which is very very hot! When it gets this hot, hydrogen atoms fuse together to make helium. Helium is lighter than hydrogen, so when the fusion takes place, the atoms lose mass which is released as energy. This energy is heat and light, which to us looks like bright light!

    • Photo: Charlotte Flavell

      Charlotte Flavell answered on 27 Jun 2014:

      Hi gabriela12,

      Becky has already given a great answer so I cant really improve on that 🙂

      But did you know that because they sun was so bright and really important, many ancient civilisations thought it was a god and worshipped it. The ancient Egyptians named it Ra and the Aztecs named it Tonahtiuh.

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