The relationship between the earth and the sun

With a radius 110 times that of Earth and a mass 330,000 times greater, the sun reigns as the center of the solar system. The gravitational pull of the fierce, stormy ball of gas holds earth orbit, and its emissions power the Earth-atmosphere systems on which our lives depend. As the source of almost all the energy in our world, it holds the key to many of our questions about Earth and sky. Everybody is wondering about the environmental changes that take place throughout the year and from place to place over Earth’s surface. In the late years, people wondered why it got much warmer during summer than in winter and why some days were long whereas those in the other seasons were much shorter.

These questions and many like them are probably as old as the earliest human thoughts, and the answers to them help to provide the understanding of the physical geography of the world. Physical geographers’ concerns take them beyond planet Earth to a consideration of the sun and Earth’s position in the solar system. Geographers examine the relationship between the sun and Earth to explain such earthly phenomena as the alternating periods of light and dark that is referred to as day and night. Other relationships between the Earth and sun also help to explain seasonal variations in climate. Although the universe and solar system are not strictly within the province of physical geography, an acquaintance with each can be helpful in an examination of Earth as an environment for life.

Earth receives about 1/2,000,000,000 (one two billionth) of the radiation given off by the sun, but even this tiny amount drives the biological and physical characteristics of Earth’s surface. Other bodies in the solar system receive some of the sun’s radiant energy, but the vast proportion of it travels out through space