Sunday, April 7, 2013

How much power do we get from the sun every day?


Question by Hiya: How much power do we get from the sun every day?
I need to know how much per square inch at any given time and also the amount the sun gives the earth (in total, the sun is always shining some where) each day.


Best answer:
Answer by Donut TimMost of the Sun’s light is radiated in a direction that does not send it to Earth.

Only 0.000000724654% of it reaches the Earth.
That’s 7.24654 billionths of the Sun’s total light.

The Sunlight that reaches Earth is equal to approximately 1,370 watts per square meter (0.884 watts per square inch) when the sun is at zenith. Because of the atmosphere, the amount of energy that reaches the ground is about 1,000 watts per meter (0.645 watts per square inch) when the sun is directly above and no clouds obscure. (One watt is equal to 1 joule (J) of energy per second.)

The total energy from the Sun that hits Earth is 2,787,020,730,988,480,000 watts.
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