Non-vascular bryophytes live in colonies that cover the ground and resemble tiny forests. In a real forest, plants compete for light in different layers of the canopy. If a plant does not receive enough sunlight, it stops ...
Evolution
Jan 24, 2023
0
61
The bacterium Rhodococcus ruber eats and actually digests plastic. This has been shown in laboratory experiments by Ph.D. student Maaike Goudriaan at Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ).
Environment
Jan 23, 2023
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43
The best answers to scientific questions can often be found in nature.
Analytical Chemistry
Dec 12, 2022
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1032
With the help of mirrors, placed only a few hundred nanometers apart, a research team has managed to use light more efficiently. The finding could eventually be useful for controlling solar energy conversion during photosynthesis, ...
Optics & Photonics
Nov 28, 2022
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24
Agricultural producers around the world must adapt to changing weather patterns. Much research has focused on mitigation strategies for crop production, but livestock producers face unique challenges.
Agriculture
Oct 7, 2022
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3
A proposal to cover Arctic sea ice with layers of tiny hollow glass spheres about the thickness of one human hair would actually accelerate sea-ice loss and warm the climate rather than creating thick ice and lowering the ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 5, 2022
2
67
Much effort has been put into making plastics not only durable and convenient but also environmentally friendly materials for everyday products. Osaka Metropolitan University scientists made a significant advance in this ...
Biochemistry
Oct 3, 2022
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8
A vision of a future moon settlement is assembled from semi-buried inflatable habitats. Sited beside the lunar poles in regions of near-perpetual solar illumination, mirrors positioned above each habitat would reflect sunlight ...
Space Exploration
Sep 1, 2022
2
9
Sunlight impacts litter decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems through the process of photodegradation. Previous studies on litter photodegradation focused on the effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and only recently ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 25, 2022
0
5
Researchers have developed a transparent protective coating material that can self-heal in 30 minutes when exposed to sunlight.
Polymers
Aug 8, 2022
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204
Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. Near the poles in summer, the days are longer and the nights are shorter or non-existent. In the winter at the poles the nights are longer and for some periods of time, sunlight may not occur at all. When the direct radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and heat. Radiant heat directly produced by the radiation of the sun is different from the increase in atmospheric temperature due to the radiative heating of the atmosphere by the sun's radiation. Sunlight may be recorded using a sunshine recorder, pyranometer or pyrheliometer. Sunlight takes about 8.3 minutes to reach the Earth. The World Meteorological Organization defines sunshine as direct irradiance from the Sun measured on the ground of at least 120 watts per square metre.
Direct sunlight has a luminous efficacy of about 93 lumens per watt of radiant flux, which includes infrared, visible, and ultra-violet light. Bright sunlight provides luminance of approximately 100,000 candela per square meter at the Earth's surface.
Sunlight is a key factor in photosynthesis, a process crucially important for life on Earth.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
