3D Model of the Sun

When the sun is shining in the sky, it looks like a big ball of light. Its actually a lot
more complicated than that. The sun has layers and it also has places where it looks
bumpy or spotty.
The center of the Sun is the core. Its very dense but very hot, so it is a gas. Its
temperature is 15 million kelvins (27 million degrees Fahrenheit)! In the core of the
sun, nuclear reactions called fusion make energy in the form of gamma
rays and neut rinos. This area has a radius of about 90,000 miles.
The radiat ive z one is about 190,000 miles thick. This area delivers the energy
from the core into other parts of the sun.
Next to the radiative z one is the convect ive z one. Here, the photons of energy
move faster than in the radiative z one. This is because they move on rising and
falling currents of gas in a process called convection. On earth, currents like this help make the wind. The
convective z one is 125,000 miles thick.
Outside the convective z one are three layers. The phot osphere is the layer that we actually see when we look
into the sky, and surprisingly, its only about 300 miles thick. It contains energy thats in the visible light spectrum.
The chromosphere is outside the photosphere and is just over 6000 miles thick. Its very hot, but its only visible
with special instruments that help us see infrared light. The outer layer is called the corona, and its the hottest
part. Its also the widest at around 3 million miles thick.
The heat moves giant solar winds around the open spaces on the Sun. In addition to layers, the Sun also has
irregular areas called sunspot s and granules. Sunspots are dark, oddly-shaped areas on the surface of the
Sun, and they appear and disappear. In 1609, the invention of the telescope helped early scientists such as
Galileo and Christoph Scheiner observe these spots. At first they werent sure what the spots were and thought
that they might be moons crossing the Sun. Galileo then determined that the spots were actually on the surface of
the Sun. Today we know that sunspots are caused by magnetic activity that changes the patterns of motion in the
Sun. The dark middle part of a sunspot is called the umbra. The umbra is cooler than the rest of the sun and has
a strong magnetic field. Its surrounded by a ring called the penumbra. Sometimes the surface of the sun looks
bumpy like sugar crystals. These bumpy areas called granules are areas of the sun where hot material comes to
the surface before fading quickly.

Problem: Create a three-dimensional model of the interior of the sun.

Mat erials
One stick and press LED tap light
One yellow paper lantern
5 different colors of construction paper
Yellow poster board
Clear tape
Scissors
Black, red, and orange paint
Paintbrush
Glue

Procedure
1. Use your paper lantern while its closed and flat to trace a circle on lightweight yellow poster board.
2. Cut out the circle you drew.
3. Expand your lantern. Divide it into halves and then quarters.

4 . Cut out the quarter of the lantern. This is the place where youll add the circle to show the different layers of
the sun.
5. Now cut out circles of different colors of construction paper to represent the layers of the sun. Choose a
color of paper for the core, the radiative z one, the convective z one, the photosphere, and the
chromosphere. Use your calculator to determine the ratios of the layers. For example, if you make the core 1
inch deep, your radiative zone is a little more than double the size of the core, so it would be 2 inches wide.
The convective zone is about 65 percent the size of the radiative zone, so it would be just over 1.5 inches
wide.
6. Label the layers with their names and thickness and any interesting facts that you can fit onto the piece of
paper.
7. Glue the layers onto the circle of yellow poster board and wait for the glue to dry. Then fold the circle in half.
Open it so that the edges of the semicircles form a 90 degree angle.
8. When youve finished adding the layers, use clear tape to fit the layers into the gap you cut out in the fourth
step.
9. Use paint to add convection currents, sunspots, and granulation on the outside of your lantern.
10. If your lantern came with a wire support, use that to stick your tap light into the lamp. If not, fix the tap light on
the inside of the lantern at the bottom where you can still reach in and turn it on.