3 ms·
It's the inverse square law that bites you here as the same amount of energy gets stretched out into a larger sphere as it travels outwards (at earth the energy
by zaarn 9y ago
It's the inverse square law that bites you here as the same amount of energy gets stretched out into a larger sphere as it travels outwards (at earth the energy is 1.4kW for a square meter, when going outwards, this square meter gets stretched)
Double the distance and you get 1/4th the energy.
Saturn is 9AU or 9 times as far as earth; 1/81th the energy. (1400 / 9^2 = 17, so math checks out; roughly)
We're quite lucky to be close enough for solar energy to be a viable source of energy.
[*]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse-square_law
- blattimwind 9y ago> We're quite lucky to be close enough for solar energy to be a viable source of energy. If solar energy were not viable, this form would not exist.
- basementcat 9y agoIf solar energy were not viable, Hacker News posts might be written by technologically inclined chemoautotrophs hacking in the basement of their hydrothermal vent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosynthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemosynthesis
- zaarn 9y agoJust because solar cells don't work doesn't mean photosynthesis wouldn't work.