Thursday, April 26, 2018
12:30 - 1:45; 75 min. -
Physical Science:
Solar Flares -
Will and I reviewed light and how it is actually energy traveling in a wave. The length of the wave determines the amount, and kind, of energy that is moving. We reviewed why the sky is blue, and examined the spectrum to notice how blue light has the shortest wavelength, so it is refracted last by our atmosphere, and therefore expressed to our eyes. Will figured out that the sunset shows the other lights in the spectrum. We discussed the aurora borealis, and how light energy travels from the sun, to the poles of Earth, entering our atmosphere and giving us a show. I explained that this happens from solar storms called flares. We researched the most severe solar storms on record, and noticed that when a severe storm happens, it enters our atmosphere at the poles, and can sometimes be seen as far south as the Caribbean. The effect of these severe storms is the disabling of satellites, knocking our telecommunications out for a period of hours. We also noticed that the frequency of these storms is, so far, unpredictable.