The Sun is a hot plasma (ionized matter) ...

Units and Measurement

Question : 23 of 33

Marks: +1, -0

The Sun is a hot plasma (ionized matter) with its inner core at a temperature exceeding 10

{}^7

K, and its outer surface at a temperature of about 600 K. At these high temperatures, no substance remains in a solid or liquid phase. In what range do you expect the mass density of the Sun to be, in the range of densities of solids and liquids or gases? Check if your guess is correct from the following data :

mass of the Sun = 2.0 × 10

{}^30

kg, radius of the Sun = 7.0 × 10

{}^8

Solution:

Here,

M=2.0 \times 10^{30} \text{kg} ;

R=7.0 \times 10^{8} \text{m} ;

\text{Density}, \rho = ?

\rho = \frac{\text{mass}}{\text{volume}}

= \frac{M}{\frac{4}{3} \pi R^3}

= \frac{3M}{4 \pi R^3}

= \frac{3 \times 2.0 \times 10^{30}}{4 \times 3.14 (7 \times 10^{8})^3}

=1.392 \times 10^{3} \text{kg}/\text{m}^3

This is the order of density of solids and liquids; and not gases. The highdensity of sun is due to inward gravitational attraction on outer layers,due to the inner layers of the sun.

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