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Something to think about whilst lying on the beach or by the pool in you villa.

How does the sunlight reach us?

Well Lanzarote is nearer the equater the the northern European countries which is why in general the climate is warmer. The sun is overhead but the difference is that at the equater  it is directly overhead whilst at the poles it is at more of a slanted angle. As the sun rays are fallen straight onto the equater this makes it hotter .Straight rays cover the short distance to reach earth and, therefore, don’t lose much heat on the way. Therefore, the area that they fall on receives a lot of heat. The rays that have a lot longer to travel through the atmosphere obviously become a lot cooler.  It takes 8 minutes and 20 seconds for a ray to reach the earth.

If you want to spend a little longer sunbathing and contemplating then the journey the the light makes from the centre of the sun to reach you is even longer.

Photons are created at the core of the sun starting off as gamma radiation. They are emitted and absorbed repeatedly in an area in the sun called the radioactive zone making there way to the surface. Once they hit the surface and escape this is where the 8 minute journey starts to the earth.

It can take a million years from birth for the photon to reach the surface of the sun before it reaches you!

Earth