THE SUN
What is the Sun?
The Sun, with its heat and light is the source of life on earth. Although it is
special to us, it is just an ordinary star, one among billions in the Universe.
The other stars are too far away for us to feel their heat.
Why is the Sun hot?
The Sun is a huge ball of hot gas. The Sun’s energy (or heat) is produced by
nuclear reactions at its centre where the temperature of the gas is 15
million degrees Celsius! The gas, swirling around within the Sun, carries the
energy to the Sun’s surface, where it spreads into space as light and heat.
The Sun’s light is so bright that it can damage the eyes if looked at directly
and can even cause blindness. The Sun looks brighter than other stars
because it is closer to the Earth
How big is the Sun?
The Sun is 1.4 million km (865,000 miles) wide. It could swallow more than a
million Earths and it is over 300,000 times heavier.
Why do the planets orbit around the Sun?
Because the Sun is so heavy, it has a very powerful gravity and this
gravitational pull holds the planets in their orbits, just as the Earth’s gravity
stops us from flying out into space.
How far away is the Sun?
The Sun is 150 million kilometres (93 million miles) away from the Earth. It
would take us years to reach it. If the Sun died we wouldn’t know about it
for just over 8 minutes because that is how long it takes the Sun’s light to
reach us (light travels at 300,000 km per second!). Energy from the Sun
travels through space. It reaches Earth and warms the ground. Energy from
the Sun gives us heat and light.
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users
Y1 Sc Seasonal changes Session A
The Sun Fact Sheet
The Sun is the star that sits at the centre of our solar system. It is
the gravity of the Sun that keeps each of the planets going round it.
The Sun is a 1.4 million km wide ball of burning gas and it is nearly
16 million degrees centigrade hot in the centre. It is slightly less hot
at the surface!
The Sun is 149.6 million km from Earth.
It weighs 19,890,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000kg!
It is made mostly from hydrogen and helium.
The Sun is the brightest thing in the sky. Its light is so powerful that
during the day it overpowers everything else in space!
It just so happens that from Earth the Moon and the Sun appear to
be about the same size - in actual fact, of course, the Moon is many,
many times smaller than the Sun.
When the Moon passes directly between the Earth and the Sun this
is known as a solar eclipse. It means that the Sun’s light cannot be
seen.
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users
Y1 Sc Seasonal changes Session A
Sunrise and Sunset Demonstration
You will need:
 Ball
 Marker pen
 Torch
What you do:
1. Mark a cross on the ball using a marker pen to show the position of
the UK
2. Hold the ball at the top and the bottom and shine a strong light on
to it. Point out that only half the ball is lit up, the other half is dark
3. Now turn the ball slowly. Watch how the cross is first in the light
(daytime) and then in the dark (night-time)
Interesting fact:
It takes 24 hours for the Earth to spin on its axis once and a whole year to
orbit the Sun.
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users
Y1 Sc Seasonal changes Session A
Sun Facts
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users
Y1 Sc Seasonal changes Session A
The Sun
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users
Y1 Sc Seasonal changes Session A
What is the Sun?
the Sun is an orange dinghy
sailing across a calm sea
it is a gold coin
dropped down a drain in Heaven
the Sun is a yellow beach ball
kicked high into the summer sky
it is a red thumbprint
on a sheet of pale blue paper
the Sun is a milk bottle’s gold top
floating in a puddle.
Wes Magee
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users
Y1 Sc Seasonal changes Session A
Sun
Lightbringer
Joymaker
Nightchaser
Cloudshaker
Foodgrower
Gloomfighter
Heatgiver
Moonlighter
Sleepender
Icebreaker
Leafrouser
Plantwaker
Skinbrowner
Nosepeeler
Feetwarmer
Hearthealer.
Steve Turner
© Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users
Y1 Sc Seasonal changes Session A