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Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth , sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon .
Average annual solar radiation arriving at the top of the Earth's atmosphere is roughly 1361 W/m 2. [35] The Sun's rays are attenuated as they pass through the atmosphere, leaving maximum normal surface irradiance at approximately 1000 W/m 2 at sea level on a clear day.
On the surface of Earth, at far lower temperatures than the surface of the Sun, some thermal radiation consists of infrared in the mid-infrared region, much longer than in sunlight. Black-body, or thermal, radiation is continuous: it radiates at all wavelengths.
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System.It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation with 10% at ultraviolet energies.
This radiation is in the infrared portion of the spectrum, but is distinct from the shortwave (SW) near-infrared radiation found in sunlight. [1]: 2251 Outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) is the longwave radiation emitted to space from the top of Earth's atmosphere. [1]: 2241 It may also be referred to as emitted terrestrial radiation. Outgoing ...
UV-C radiation spans from 0.1μm to .28μm, UV-B from 0.28μm to 0.315μm, UV-A from 0.315μm to 0.4μm, the visible spectrum from 0.4μm to 0.7μm, and NIR arguably from 0.7μm to 5.0μm, beyond which the infrared is thermal. [1] Shortwave radiation is distinguished from longwave radiation. Downward shortwave radiation is related to solar ...
Radiation waves may travel in unusual patterns compared to conduction heat flow. Radiation allows waves to travel from a heated body through a cold non-absorbing or partially absorbing medium and reach a warmer body again. [14] An example is the case of the radiation waves that travel from the Sun to the Earth.
The wavelengths of thermal radiation emitted by the Sun and Earth differ because their surface temperatures are different. The Sun has a surface temperature of 5,500 °C (9,900 °F), so it emits most of its energy as shortwave radiation in near-infrared and visible wavelengths (as sunlight).