Haven’t had much time in the past week to write or photograph. My yard is full of red-winged blackbirds, blue jays and mourning doves. Snapped these photos yesterday. Now if we could only find the sunshine. About the sun….
Fun fact: “Exajoule” is a real word. (Bet you STEM scholars knew that.)
A “joule” is the standard unit of work or energy in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the work done by a force of one newton when its point of application moves through a distance of one meter in the direction of the force: equivalent to 10 7ergs and one watt-second. (Dictionary.com). So, in super simple terms, a joule is a way of measuring energy. (Smart people feel free to add comments to this post helping us mere mortals to understand joules and exajoules.)
Exajoule. The SI prefix “exa” represents a factor of 1018, or in exponential notation, 1E18. So 1 exajoule = 1018 joules. The definition of a joule is as follows: The joule (symbol J, also called newton meter, watt second, or coulomb volt) is the SI unit of energy and work.
Solar has Incredible Potential
If we add the amount of solar energy that is absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, land and oceans every year, we end up with approximately 3,850,000 EJ (exajoules or 10^18 joules).
To put it in more understandable terms, this amount of energy is equivalent to:
- 2.7 million earthquakes of the same size as the Tohoku earthquake in Japan (2011).
- 40 000 times the total energy consumption in the United States
- 8 000 times the total consumption in the whole world.
- About 40% of the energy that is required to heat the entire volume of water we have on Earth by 1°Celsius
I didn’t get any further in this article (“5 Mind-Blowing Solar Energy Facts”) because my mind got stuck on exajoules in this first fact.
Interested in learning more about solar energy but don’t want to ever read about exajoules again? No problem! Start here: http://www.nrcm.org/news/environmental-issues-in-the-news/fight-solar-continues-despite-opposition/
The sun will come out. But maybe not until Saturday. Just stick out your chin and grin in the meantime.
The Nature of Maine 