http://www.thescienceforum.com/viewt...?p=13502#13502
Here's a reply to UncleAl by Ophiolite
"Erich,
re your earlier post quoting Uncle Al. Uncle Al is of course living proof that intelligence plus an education do not always equal correct conclusions. Your response to him was a pertinent one.
You might have added this.
The surface area of the sphere at the Earth's orbital radius is 1.81 E16.
The surface area of this sphere intersected by the Earth is 2.01 E08
The portion of the sun's output interesected by the Earth is 1.11 E-08
The sun converts 4 billion tons of mass to energy per second
In one year it converts 1.46 E12 tons
The Earth intercepts the energy of 1.46 E12 x 1.11 E-08 converted tons: 1.62 E04
The amount of this incident energy required to meet US energy needs is 0.007%.
Even if I am out somewhere by a factor of 100, then the needs would be met by less than 0.1% of the energy falling on the Earth."
Cheers,
Erich
