How many watts does the sun equal??

[musty baby]

Actually, I think you're all off

The sun is on average 150 million km away from the earth. The area of the imaginary sphere at the distance of the earth is 4*pi*150 000 000^2, or 2.83*10^17 km^2.

The earth is about 12735 km wide. The cross section of earth perpendicular to the sun is about pi(12735/2)^2 or 127 376 050 km^2.

By that, the earth receives (127 376 050/2.83*10^17)*100 or .000 000 045 percent of the sun's radiation.

Simple proportion - if we receive 174 petawatts and we are .000 000 045% of the area bombarded by the sun's radiation, then 100*174/.000 000 045 should equal around the number of petawatts total. 386 666 666 667 petawatts.

386 666 666 667 000 000 000 000 000 watts.

Hooray. I am officially lame

[musty baby]

Oops. I guess I missed jetcat's first post!

[T Man]

Originally posted by ryansholl
Actually, I think you're all off

[steve70]

over my head, talk english, lol

[musty baby]

Whoa buddy. I meant "oops didn't see T Man's post".

Your book = 3.85x10^26 watts

My crummy math = 3.87x10^26 watts

[Adam G]

Can you guys figure up some numbers to show how many watts it would take to match the power of the sun in an aqaurium?

Let's assume that we take the amount of sunlight in clear ocean water at a depth of 30ft on the equater.

How many watts to match this amount of light in an aquarium at a depth of 1 ft?

[Pmolan]

Originally posted by T Man

Did you just scan this in??

[sabbath]

Originally posted by Travis L. Stevens
Uhh.... no

PAR Readings
Oklahoma sun at 5pm at street level: ~1800
4x 54w T5HO with individual Reflectors at water surface: ~300-500 depending on bulbs/ballast
1x 250w SE Metal Halide: ~200-400 depending on bulb/ballast

Good question. I wonder what the par reading is in the oceans right on top of the coral reefs. Is our lights getting close to the par that they are used to.

[JetCat USA]

Originally posted by Adam G
Let's assume that we take the amount of sunlight in clear ocean water at a depth of 30ft on the equater.

those numbers would change throughout the seasons, the Earth travels in an elliptical pattern around the sun and is closer at times then at others. in the northern hemisphere when the Earth is closer to the sun it's winter

[sabbath]

Originally posted by JetCat USA
those numbers would change throughout the seasons, the Earth travels in an elliptical pattern around the sun and is closer at times then at others. in the northern hemisphere when the Earth is closer to the sun it's winter

It would be beneficial to see how our lights compare though. I wonder what the range of this change in seasons would be. Or how we compare in winter or summer...

[erbio]

LOL

[xtm]

these PITAwatts are so PITA to calculate

Let's wait for Sanjay's review of the sun

[Hypertek99]

Ok so how many watts per gallon does the sun equal if anyone can find out the total amount of water in the ocean?

[NaH2Ofreak]

wait a minute......loading another bowl....

[Hypertek99]

lol

[tkeracer619]

Originally posted by Hypertek99
Ok so how many watts per gallon does the sun equal if anyone can find out the total amount of water in the ocean?

1,056,115.85 Watts/Gallon

Earth has ~ 332,500,000 Cubic miles of water
1 Cubic Mile = 1,101,117,140,000 US Gallons
Sun has ~386,666,666,667,000,000,000,000,000 Watts per prior discussion.


386,666,666,667,000,000,000,000,000Watts/(332,500,000Miles^3 *(1,101,117,140,000G/Mile^3))=1,056,115.85 Watts/Gallon

[sirjohn]

Originally posted by virginiadiver69
Would T-5 be close enough or would I have to go with MH?

lol

[cd77]

Can anyone recommend a company that produces a good fusion reactor light fixture? Kinda on a budget here.. just something simple.. I'll be happy to supply my own hydrogen and helium...

[Hypertek99]

So 400watts over a 29Gal is not overkill. LOL

[tkeracer619]

Originally posted by Hypertek99
So 400watts over a 29Gal is not overkill. LOL

If you custom make your reflectors I bet you could get (4) 1000W bulbs or more over that 29G

[JetCat USA]

I've ran a 400w 20kk XM over a 29 with excellent results, i just had to use a 6" wal-mart fan plus a 1/10hp chiller to keep temp in check.

[T Man]

Originally posted by Pmolan
Did you just scan this in??

Indeed I did , someone had to back the facts up T

[jacmyoung]

Originally posted by tkeracer619
1,056,115.85 Watts/Gallon

Earth has ~ 332,500,000 Cubic miles of water
1 Cubic Mile = 1,101,117,140,000 US Gallons
Sun has ~386,666,666,667,000,000,000,000,000 Watts per prior discussion.


386,666,666,667,000,000,000,000,000Watts/(332,500,000Miles^3 *(1,101,117,140,000G/Mile^3))=1,056,115.85 Watts/Gallon

Not a fair number unless a motorized reflector is installed behind the Sun so it always faces the Earth as the Earth orbits the Sun.

How much aluminum is needed to make that reflector? Assume it will magically withstand the heat.

[cd77]

Just thought this was interesting -- according to Wikipedia, the earth receives 750 W / square meter from sunlight on a clear day: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power)#Watt_2

Unfortunately, a reference isn't sited for this figure.

[m2434]

Originally posted by JetCat USA
those numbers would change throughout the seasons, the Earth travels in an elliptical pattern around the sun and is closer at times then at others. in the northern hemisphere when the Earth is closer to the sun it's winter

Barely, the orbit is ALMOST a perfect circle. There would be a slight change, but depending on your precision, would likely be lost to rounding error.

Here is some more info...

NASA

this is one of the weirdest threads I've seen... I like it!