How come you can feel the sun when it is so far away?

The sun is indeed very far away, at a distance of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth. However, it is also an incredibly large and powerful object, emitting vast amounts of energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which includes visible light, ultraviolet (UV) radiation, infrared (IR) radiation, and other types of electromagnetic waves.

This electromagnetic radiation travels through space in the form of photons, which are tiny packets of energy. These photons can interact with objects on Earth, such as your skin and eyes, transferring their energy and causing them to heat up or react in other ways. When the photons from the sun reach your skin, they are absorbed by the atoms and molecules in your skin, causing them to vibrate faster. This increased vibration generates heat, which you feel as warmth.

The amount of heat you feel from the sun depends on several factors, including the intensity of the sun's radiation, the distance from the sun, the time of day, the weather conditions, and the presence of obstacles between you and the sun. When the sun is directly overhead (i.e., at noon), it is closest to Earth and its rays are more concentrated, so you feel warmer. As the day progresses and the sun moves towards the horizon, the angle at which its rays hit Earth becomes more oblique, and the energy is spread out over a larger area, resulting in less intense heat. Clouds, dust particles, and other atmospheric conditions can also block or scatter the sun's radiation, reducing the amount of heat that reaches the Earth.

Overall, the incredible power of the sun and the constant stream of photons it emits allow its warmth to be felt across vast distances, even though it is millions of miles away.