This is the third book in the series that included 'The Theory of Nothing' the "The Universe Revealed.' My purpose in this new book is to more fully explain how science is actually done and how science fits into our culture along with religion and p...
Whether you know it or not, our little planet is being bombarded by an onslaught of high-energy particles. In some cases, these particles are equivalent to a violent storm. It's important to understand this perpetual threat and how to deal with it.
Just how violent can it get?
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First of all, let's consider a normal solar wind. As you might know, the Sun blasts plasma off its photosphere into the corona, which is the sun's atmosphere. Photons are shooting off of the sun at the speed of light, and these photons create an outward pressure that pushes the plasma out into space and causes it to act like a wind, a very powerful and dangerous wind that extends all the way to the very edge of the solar system, which is billions of miles away.
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The Sun's solar wind plasma consists of mostly electrons, protons and alpha particles. This wind has an energy of 1.5 to10 keV, which the keV stands for thousands of electron volts. An electron volt is the energy that is generated by an electron moving across one volt. This doesn't sound like much, but it is very dangerous. For one thing the plasma is moving at supersonic speeds, 250 to 750 kilometers per second and it extends out to the very edge of our solar system. Actually, there are two solar winds, the slow version, which comes mostly from the Sun's equatorial belt and the fast solar wind that comes from coronal holes, which are more prevalent at the Sun's polar regions.
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The solar wind is what forms the auroras at the poles of our planet. This is because the Earth's magnetic fields bend down at the poles and these high-energy particles flow down there and interact with the Earth's atmospheric gases, causing them to glow like neon lights.
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As bad as the solar wind is, the real storm violence comes from coronal mass ejections. These happen when magnetic lines in the Sun twist around and collide, causing brilliant flares of light. The explosions cause a part of the Sun's corona to be blasted off and sent out as a super shock wave, which has terawatts of power when it collides with Earth's atmosphere. The result can be destructive to space satellites and can disrupt power grids. A particularly powerful CME could send us back into the dark ages by destroying our power infrastructure and satellites that power our communication system.
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The good news is that NASA and ESA have plenty of Sun-watching spacecraft out there to keep track of our Sun's antics. There would be plenty of warning if a particularly dangerous CME were headed our way. It is possible to mitigate the effects of a CME. Here's hoping that these solar storm watchers do their job.
