How, at 93 million miles away, does the sun feel so warm, yet when a simple cloud passes over it the warmth is incredibly dampened?

Question

How, at 93 million miles away, does the sun feel so warm, yet when a simple cloud passes over it the warmth is incredibly dampened?

In: Planetary Science

Answer 1

The energy from the sun goes through 93 million miles of *absolutely nothing*. It starts off as an unbelievably massive amount of energy, so even 93 million miles away it’s still pretty dang strong.

When the sun hits you, you feel that energy as warmth.

When the sun hits a cloud, the cloud gets that energy instead. Some still passes through to you, but most of it has been “soaked up” by the cloud already – because the cloud was the first *thing* the energy encountered.