Question

The United States consumes about 2.5 ✕ 1019 J of energy in all forms in a year. How many years could we run the United States on the energy released by a 1023 J solar flare?

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

To find out how many years the United States could run on the energy released by a 10²³ J solar flare, we need to divide the energy of the solar flare by the energy consumed by the United States in one year:

Number of years = Energy of solar flare / Energy consumed by the United States per year

Number of years = 10²³ J / 2.5 x 10¹⁹ J/year

Number of years = 4 x 10³ years

Therefore, the United States could run for approximately 4,000 years on the energy released by a 10²³ J solar flare.