Name: Andrew
Status: other
Grade: other
Location: NV
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
What is the true color of the sun? why is it that
color and how did it become that color?
My science teacher says its white but my dad challenges that
statement by saying its yellow-orange.
Replies:
Andrew,
Your teacher and father are coming at it from different view points.
Because the Sun is at a temperature of approximately 5500K
(essentially "white hot"), it is white in color. Another way to look
at this is to say that if the light from the Sun were to be passed
through a prism, it would be split into a rainbow of colors which
then suggests that it is white since all the colors are present.
However, when the Sun's rays pass through our atmosphere, the Sun's
rays are scattered by the particles in the air and gives it a yellow
color. In this sense, your dad is correct in that stars are
classified depending on their age and the color that they give when
their light passes through our atmosphere. Our Sun being a main
sequence star (which gives off heat through the fusion of hydrogen
and is neither contracting nor expanding) is classified as yellow.
About 100million stars are classified as such. The others are Red
Dwarves and Blue Giants.
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.
