DID YOU KNOW…
A Photon's Epic Journey: Thousands of Years to Escape the Sun!
While sunlight reaches Earth in a mere eight minutes, the photons that carry this light begin a journey from the Sun's core that can last tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of years.
Deep within the Sun's core, nuclear fusion creates high-energy photons. However, due to the Sun's extreme density, these photons don't travel directly outwards. Instead, they repeatedly collide with charged particles, getting absorbed and re-emitted in random directions in a process called a 'random walk.' This chaotic pinball game through the radiative zone means a single photon can take an astonishing 10,000 to 170,000 years, or even more, to reach the Sun's surface before finally making its relatively swift eight-minute dash to Earth. It's a testament to the incredible forces and densities at play inside our star.
Love discovering things like this?
A new fact every day with photos, on the free app.