Like fossil fuels come from organic matter that grew because of the sun. Is there any form of energy on that cannot be traced back to the sun in some way?
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Nuclear (fission) energy did not originate in our sun, it originated in some other sun a long time ago, or potentially a neutron star merger.
Tidal energy originates from gravitational collapse and the conservation of angular momentum when our planet and moon formed, and does not rely on our sun, but similarly originated in the dust clouds that formed our solar system which were put there by some other sun.
Geothermal is a hybrid of these two, with some combination of nuclear decay heating and gravity-driven heating.
Hydrocarbon, wind and hydroelectric all heavily involve our sun somewhere in the process though.
Tides are from the pull of the moon’s gravity. And the moon formed from another body colliding with the Earth. It’s not just due to angular momentum and the moon forming out of cosmic dust like the Earth did.
Without angular momentum it would have fallen back down to the Earth instead of going into orbit. It’s the orbit specifically that powers the tides, not just it being there.
But yeah, you’re right. Beyond providing the materials dust was not involved.
Tides don’t rely on the sun but are affected by the sun.
Hm. Touche.
Everyone is giving you some great answers, but there are since more subtle ones worth mentioning too.
When you take a picture of space, the light from those other stars hits the camera sensor and induces a tiny electrical charge, which is captured, amplified, and analyzed to create the image. Your eyes actually work that way too.
It’s not an energy source as you typically think of it; it never powers anything, but technically it is* energy that exists on Earth that didn’t come from our sun.
That’s awesome. Now that you mention it I remember reading that supermassive black holes are a source of cosmic radiation too.
Geothermal comes from the heat in the core, produced by gravity crushing the particles together during the Earth’s formation.
Nuclear energy comes from the fission and fusion of particles here on earth.
Tidal energy comes from the gravitational pull of the moon.
Hydro comes from the movement of water (though you could trace this back to the sun causing the water cycle).
Earth wouldn’t coalesce without the sun. Thus no geothermal.
Nuclear materials were formed in supernovas. Can’t have that without a star.
Moons tides wouldn’t exist if Earth didn’t have an orbit of its own. Again, sun needed.
Hydro you already figured out.
I guess it depends on how far back you want to go. The sun wouldn’t exist without gravity.
Well, seeing as how the question is directly asking “is there any energy you can’t eventually trace back to the sun”, you shouldn’t ever stop going back unless you can reach a definitively non sun answer
(Gravity arguably works - probably the nuclear attraction force as well, electromagnetic I believe)
Yeah, although I’m not sure if I’d consider the four fundamental forces as “energy”, exactly.
When most people ask the question, they mean in the context of the current environment, where the Earth, moon, etc. are already formed.
Tidal.
Gravitational interaction between the Moon and Earth orbiting each other and the Sun …
Moon/Earth were formed within the influence of the Sun and the solar system.
Unless a giant comet ( attracted by Sun’s larger gravity well?? ) introduced something extra-solar , almost everything is under the influence of the Sun.
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It’d be interesting to think of novel ways of getting power from sources other than the Sun.
Theoretically, one could, say, build a space-elevator-like device and use the centrifugal force pushing it away from Earth to run a generator. Of course, for that to work, the weight would have to continually receed from Earth, and may require continually replacing the weight. Ultimately that would rob the Earth of angular momentum.
https://youtu.be/N1pIYI5JQLE?si=uciOf3JzwF8S6qDy
Y’all need to pay attention to the actual question being asked. Geothermal, nuclear, tidal are all originating with the formation of the galaxy and the formation of stars.
Ask yourself: WHERE did the earth get X,Y,Z? Where does nuclear materials come from: supernovas. How do planets form? A gas cloud coalesces, the star forms, and the remaining gasses coalesce in that gravity well formed by the star. Without a star forming in the middle, you get no solar system. You get cold blob of gas or a cold dead rock. Where does tidal come from: same gravitational interactions that require a sun sized object - tides aren’t 100% earth & moon.
Stars are like the seed needed to form crystals. Without them, nothing else forms. Just a bunch of basic chemicals floating around.
That video was above my pay grade I think. But ya I like what you’re saying here. Sounds like all of our energy does come from a star if not our own star
The heat in the Earth’s mantle and core comes from the gravitational potential energy of the original stellar dust clouds the Earth originally accreted from. So, geothermal energy mostly isn’t. And there’s also evidence that a few natural uranium deposits have undergone natural nuclear fission chain reactions. That one’s a pretty negligible amount, though. Other than that, no, it all traces back to the sun.
Earth wouldn’t have coalesced without the sun in the middle. Otherwise we’d still be a gas blob.
Nuclear materials were formed in supernovas. They wouldn’t exist in the first place without a star.
Nuclear materials were formed in supernovas. They wouldn’t exist in the first place without a star.
Well, yeah, sure. But that star is not the Sun.
Earth wouldn’t have coalesced without the sun in the middle. Otherwise we’d still be a gas blob.
I mean, sure? It wouldn’t be a gas blob, but it would be a very different system. But that still has nothing to do with it – even if the gravity of the sun influences how the earth coalesces, it’s still not where the thermal energy of the core came from. That came from the potential of the dust itself.
Which wouldn’t have the potential if the larger sun didn’t form first to create the gravity to allow the rest to form.
Star != Sun is just pointlessly pedantic. You’re not trying to learn anything, just be a smartass.
Which wouldn’t have the potential if the larger sun didn’t form first to create the gravity to allow the rest to form.
This is simply incorrect. The gravitational potential of the body would be there regardless of what else is going on around it. And either way, the OP’s question was not about some hypothetical where the sun doesn’t exist, it’s about where energy came from in the real world.
Star != Sun is just pointlessly pedantic. You’re not trying to learn anything, just be a smartass.
? The OP’s question was literally “is there energy on earth that didn’t come from the sun.” I am not the one being pedantic here.
Where did the Sun’s energy come from?
