The Sun

Solar patterns are identified by what is called the ‘Solar Cycle’. The solar cycle identifies the 11 year rotation cycle of the sun, the 11th year is also called ‘solar maximum’. The solar cycle was discovered in 1843 by a man named Samuel Heinrich Schwabe. More recently, we have discovered about 28 cycles in the past 309 years (2008) giving the solar cycle an average of 1 cycle per 11.04 years.(1)
The sun causes many disturbances with technology we use now by disrupting satellites or interrupting radio signals. When a solar flare erupts off of the sun, the electromagnetic waves enter the earth’s atmosphere and can interact with some of the radio waves we use as signals. The suns radio waves can cause some of our radio waves to be reflected, refracted or diffracted causing radio stations problems when they are trying to transmit to radios around the area. (2)
Nuclear fusion is when light nuclei combine with other light nuclei to form heavy nuclei (different elements). Stars cause nuclear fusion because the gasses are burning so hot that they cause the elements to combine to elements around them. (3) “This reaction liberates an amount of energy more than a million times greater than one gets from a typical chemical reaction.”(4) Einstein’s equation, E=mc², explains to us how mass can be lost while energy is being created (the sun burning its fuel). (4)
The sun contains 99.85% of all the mass in our solar system. The sun is guessed to be about halfway through its life. Nicholas Copernicus was the first person to theorize that the earth was revolving around the sun, in the 16th century, but it was not accepted until Newton’s law of motion was created. (5)

This photo shows how nuclear fission occurs to create new elements.
http://www.lbl.gov/abc/Basic.html

http://www.frontiernet.net/~kidpower/sun.html

http://studentweb.fortlewis.edu/TPWRIGHT/imagessun.html

1. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Solar_cycle
2. http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/propagation/ionospheric/solar-flares.php
3. http://www.astrophysicsspectator.com/topics/stars/Fusion.html
4. http://www.lbl.gov/abc/Basic.html
5. http://facts.randomhistory.com/2009/07/06_sun.html