The sun warms up our planet but space is cold. If I lit a candle and stood 20 feet away, I could see the light but not feel the warmth. So, why do we feel warmth from the sun but space isn’t warmed by it?
In: 512
We don’t get heat from the sun, we get light. Visible light hits the Earth and heats it, and then the Earth heats the air. That’s why there can be snow on top of mountains when it’s hot at the base, even though mountaintops are closer to the sun. The turnaround time for all that happening also explains why the hottest part of the day is around 2 in the afternoon, not noon, and the hottest part of the summer is usually late July/August, not June 21 (the solstice).
Latest Answers