Travel photon or random walk

The chaotic light path

The Sun continually produces 380 billion billion megawatts (3.826 × 10²⁶ W) and it for billions of years. For that it consumes 4 million tons of hydrogen per second. This loss of mass is converted into energy, 564 million tons of hydrogen are converted into 560 million tons of helium. The Sun produces its energy through nuclear fusion, due to the pressure and temperature prevailing in his big heart. This pressure and this temperature forcing electrons to break away and travel atoms released from atomic nuclei. Therefore the material no longer behaves like a gas but as a plasma. The nuclei of hydrogen powered against each other by the enormous pressure, will be transformed into helium nuclei. This fusion process generates a core mass slightly smaller and this difference is released as energy.
The energy produced by nuclear fusion is conveyed from the heart of the Sun by light particles and heat, called photons. When merging two protons in a nucleus of deuterium to create a helium nucleus, photons are released. This particle, created in the solar core, transmits the light beam to Earth. To send us this photon must traverse the various layers of the Sun. The transit time of a photon of the heart at the surface is between 10 000 and 170 000 years based on collisions.

At first the photon begins to penetrate the radiative zone of 300 000 km thick, the density is so high that the photon has trouble moving it from ever colliding with other particles such as atoms and ionized hydrogen helium.
The increase of the photon is chaotic, it is called by scientists, the photon random walk. The photon is absorbed by atoms and reissued immediately, back and forth is repeated millions of times.
As in so far as it goes up to the Sun's surface, the density of matter decreases, there are fewer collisions and interactions, its advance is much less complicated.
When there is more than 200 000 km from the surface, the photon enters the convective zone and the pace is accelerating, the photon is pushed outward, aided by the bubbling of the material. Captivated by huge columns of gas, then it must not only ten days to reach the Sun's surface.
The photon is finally emerging from gas of the solar atmosphere. Then it takes only 8 minutes to cross the 150 million km that separates our planet yet.

Image: Hellish journey of the photon: this particle, created in the solar core carries the light rays to the Earth. To do this it must go through the different layers of the Sun, the radiative zone and the convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and finally the solar corona.

Layers of the Sun

The light does not travel in a straight line, created in the warm and deep layers of the Sun it arrives on Earth after a long random walk. Each photon is deflected at random collisions in the different layers of the Sun.
Nucleus: The nucleus is the area where nuclear reactions occur (fusion of hydrogen atoms).
Radiative zone: The radiative zone is a region dense ionized gas bombarded by g rays from the fusion of protons in the nucleus. These g rays bounce off the gas are absorbed and then re-emitted as X-rays and UV radiation.
Convective zone: The convection zone carries the heart energy to the surface by convection. The gas energy to bring the Sun's surface and returns to the bottom after losing their energy.

Photosphere: The photosphere to 160 km thick is only responsible for the emission of energy that bathes the planets, it is mottled granules.
Chromosphere: The chromosphere is a semi-transparent layer visible during eclipses. This is where the protrusions are formed. The spicules are those long jets of matter projected.
Crown: The corona is the outer atmosphere of the sun. It undulates and changes shape during emission of gas jets. It is the visible part of the Sun.