The "what" Ever Thread

**Bubba** · #11 20th May 2009, 07:01

Actually it's more like 100 times..........

**4D(Fordy(Ford) Ollie** · #12 20th May 2009, 12:54

No its not its 500billion!!

LOL, lets change this threads name to The "Argu-ment" thread

**4D(Fordy(Ford) Ollie** · #13 20th May 2009, 12:59

I just checked, it's about 1,295,000 times bigger (by volume)

Or about 109 by equatorial diameter (side to opposing side at longest point),

So well done to Bubba.

See here
^ Please click it!! My first time using it to good affect :P thanks Phil for introducing me to it!

**Bubba** · #14 20th May 2009, 15:45

I typed this the first time, hit back instead of post and was too lazy to do it again but just for YOU Fordy, I'll do it again, for you will see I AM right and you are WRONG!!!!!!!!!!! (I'm always right dincha know?)

The mass of the sunis 1.9891 x1030 kg (1,988,920,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg). I’m sure you find that a hard number to wrap your mind around, so in comparison, that’s 333,000 times the mass of the Earth
Perhaps we are talking about circumference: The radius of the Sun is about 700,000 km (435,000 miles). As you know the circumference of a circle is 2 pi r, where r is the radius. That makes 4.4 million kilometers (2.7 million miles) for the circumference. For comparison, the circumference of the Earth is about 40,000 km (25,000 miles), about 100 times smaller than the Sun.

Or we could compare Diameter: The Sun is about 1,391,980 kilometers (864,938 miles) in diameter. This is a size that is almost difficult to imagine. In comparison, plane tEarthis only 12,756 kilometers (7,926 miles) wide. Again roughly 100 times as large. When using measurements for science, the last digit is usually not considered "significant."

And finally, throwing the dog a bone lol, yes Fordy, the sun is 1.3 million times the size of the earth by volume.

But how did scientists come up with these figures?
We know the 'angular' size of the Sun - how big it is looks to be on the sky - in degrees (it's about half a degree). We can convert that into a physical size for how big it is in miles or kilometers, only by knowing how far away it is. (for example, the moon and the sun look about the same size to us on Earth but the moon is much closer so it must be smaller) If you multiply the angular size (in radians, which is another unit of angle) by the distance then you get the diameter.
How far away the Sun is is determined by a couple of methods. One is a direct measurement of its distance by bouncing a radio wave off it (radar), but this is not such a good method as the Sun's outer atmosphere scatters the waves. So the more reliable method is to combine what we know about the way the Sun's gravity makes planets move (Kepler's Laws of planetary motion), with observations of the planets' movements and radar measurements of distances to the planets, to work out the distance to the Sun. This is an indirect way of getting the distance but very accurate since it is easier to measure the distance to a planet with radar, and there are several planets which you can usefully use to make independent calculations.

Edit: In conclusion and to use the 400 times bigger figure correctly (or nearly so), the Sun is roughly 400 times bigger than the MOON.

Hold your applause, tomorrow I will tell you the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

**cheesepuff** · #15 20th May 2009, 18:07

see, i told u guys this thread would get interesting!

ric · #16 21st May 2009, 04:44

No i checked it again to be sure it's 400 times bigger,there are planets that dwarf the sun many more times,amazing eh!

ric · #17 21st May 2009, 04:47

No i double checked again , it really is 400 times bigger ,there are planets which dwarf the sun by even more!

**cheesepuff** · #18 21st May 2009, 09:17

yo mom is so fat, she makes the sun look small!

**Razer** · #19 21st May 2009, 15:38

Lets stay off these "Yo momma" jokes before someone takes offence?

But not-seriously, I was in PC World having my mobo exchanged and the number of trivial problems they have.. "MY PC wont turn on!" The fuse had blown. There was a guy who didn't even assemble his PC and complained it didnt work.. He was charged a lot of pennies..

**Bubba** · #20 21st May 2009, 16:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by ric

No i checked it again to be sure it's 400 times bigger,there are planets that dwarf the sun many more times,amazing eh!

Where are you checking? Everyone else on the planet pretty much agrees with 100 times, but then what do those egghead scientists really know anyways right?

Once again, the MOON is 400 times smaller than the sun, not the EARTH.