Have you ever thought about how important the Sun is? Don’t take the Sun for granted
One of my dad’s favorite songs is Here Comes the Sun, by the Beatles. In fact, he said when I was a little baby, he would wake me up by playing this song every morning. Until recently, I didn’t think much about it besides coming and going down every day. Now, as an 8th grader at Highland Park Middle School, my science teacher, Mrs. Black, taught us just about how amazing the Sun is. I found it interesting that the Sun is more than just a source of light and heat, it’s a star in the Milky Way Galaxy. Here is why our Sun is important to the Earth.
Plants and Animals need Sunlight: First of all, the Sun helps plants by producing photons of light. The plants absorb the photons and turn it into energy through a process called photosynthesis. They use the energy to break apart CO2 from the air and covert it to oxygen for us to breathe. Without Sunlight, both plants and animals wouldn’t be able to live. Thank you Sun!
People need Sunlight: The Sun is beneficial to people physically and mentally. It helps us to have better sleep, a good mood, and stronger bones. It also gives us Vitamin D which our cells use to strengthen our immune system. Having lots of Sun also makes many people happy, myself included.
Weather needs Sunlight: Have you ever wondered why we have weather? Well, the Sun plays a big part in it. We know that hot air rises and cool air sinks. This is called convection. Sunlight hits both the land and sea. When it hits land, the air around the ground will heat up. When Sunlight hits the sea, the H2O evaporates making clouds. When the hot air rises, we get both wind, clouds, and rain. I never realized that the Sun was important for creating our weather.
Fun facts: Now you know about the benefits of the Sun, here are some fun facts:
- Nuclear fusion in the core of the Sun creates many of the atoms on the periodic table.
- Light travels at 299,792,458 meters per second
- Photons of light take about 8 minutes and 20 seconds to get from the Sun to the Earth.
- Solar flares on the Sun cause electrically charged particles to burst into space creating aurora borealis here on Earth
- Ultraviolet light comes from the Sun and if you don’t wear Sunscreen, it can give you a Sunburn
- The magnetic poles of the Sun flip every 11 years
- The outermost layer of the Sun is called the corona (in Spanish, this means crown).
- The Sun is so big that about 1.3 million Earths can fit inside of it.
Conclusion: As you can see, the Sun is easy to take for granted since we see it everyday, but I hope you have learned something to help you appreciate it a little more. All in all, I am grateful for the Sun. Now that it’s close to winter and it is cloudy most days, when the Sun does come out, I’m going to smile and think to myself: “Here comes the Sun… here comes the Sun… and I say: it’s alright”.
Kanako Wong is an 8th grader this year at Highland Park Middle School. In her free time she enjoys running, playing the flute, and photography.
