What is the total intensity of the sun?

1 Answer
May 9, 2018

3.95*10^26W3.951026W

Explanation:

The Stefan-Boltzmann law is L=AsigmaT^4L=AσT4, where:

  • AA = surface area (m^2m2)
  • sigmaσ = Stefan-Boltzmann (~5.67*10^-8Wm^-2K^-4~5.67108Wm2K4)
  • TT = surface temperature (KK)

Given the sun is a sphere (though not a perfect one), we can use:
L=4pir^2sigmaT^4L=4πr2σT4

TT is known to be 5800K5800K and rr is known to be 7.00*10^8m7.00108m

L=4pi(7.00*10^8)^2(5.67*10^-8)(5800)^4=3.95*10^26WL=4π(7.00108)2(5.67108)(5800)4=3.951026W