Title: solar radiation
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - solar radiation
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.S05730
Status: current

Definition
The electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun. The total range of wavelengths of light emitted by the sun (99.9% in the range from \(150\ \rm{to}\ 4000\ \rm{nm}\)) is filtered on entering the earth's atmosphere, largely through the absorption by oxygen, ozone, water vapour and carbon dioxide. Near sea level only light of wavelengths longer than about \(290\ \rm{nm}\) is present. The light from \(290{-}400\ \rm{nm}\) is effective in inducing important photochemical processes since absorption by the important trace gases, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, aldehydes, ketones, etc., is significant in this region.

Related Terms
- aldehydes: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/A00208
- ketones: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/K03386

Source
- PAC, 1990, 62, 2167. 'Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990)' on page 2214 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199062112167)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05730/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05730/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/S05730/xml

Citation: Citation: 'solar radiation' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.S05730
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2025-10-29T07:01:39+00:00