1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,319 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, learn volga about here. One of the weird 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,480 Speaker 1: things about space is that things don't always conform to 4 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 1: what would seem like common sense. Take the Sun, for example. 5 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: You think that the Sun's surface would be hotter than 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,599 Speaker 1: its outer atmosphere since the surface is closer to the 7 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,840 Speaker 1: nuclear furnace at the Sun's core. After all, when you're 8 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: sitting in front of a fireplace, it feels hotter when 9 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: you get closer to it. Right. The problem is the 10 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: Sun doesn't work that way. Let's talk about the structure 11 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: of the Sun. It is composed of plasma. It has 12 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: no solid surface. However, it still has a defined structure. 13 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: The innermost part of the Sun is called the core. 14 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: This is where gravity causes enough pressure to create the 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms, creating atoms of helium, plus 16 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: a burst of energy that's emitted as various forms of 17 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: electromagnetic radiation of everything from ultraviolet light and X rays 18 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: too visible and infrared light, to microwaves and radio waves. 19 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 1: That energy slowly moves out through two layers that surround 20 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,759 Speaker 1: the core, called the radiative zone and the convective zone. 21 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: Until the energy hits the photosphere, which is the part 22 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: of the Sun that we can see, and that's often 23 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,959 Speaker 1: referred to as the surface of the Sun. Above that, 24 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,400 Speaker 1: you've got a couple layers of atmosphere, first the chromosphere 25 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: and then the corona. Now, the weird thing that we're 26 00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: talking about today is that as you progress from the 27 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: core through to the photosphere, the layers of the sun 28 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:43,560 Speaker 1: get colder, but then as you go through the outer 29 00:01:43,640 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: atmospheric layers they get hotter. Again. Of course, this is 30 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:52,240 Speaker 1: all relative. The photosphere is indeed pretty hot, between six thousand, 31 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: seven hundred and eleven thousand degrees fahrenheit, which is some 32 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: three thousand, seven hundred to six thousand, two hundred degrees elseus, 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: which is hot. But the further you get from the 34 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: Sun's surface, the hotter the atmosphere seems to get. The 35 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:12,440 Speaker 1: temperature more than doubles through the chromosphere, and at the corona, 36 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: which is about one thousand, two hundred miles or two 37 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: thousand one kilometers from the surface, its soars to an 38 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: astonishing nine hundred thousand degrees fahrenheit or five hundred thousand 39 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:29,200 Speaker 1: degrees celsius. Besides the Sun, some other stars also exhibit 40 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: this curious pattern, and for a long time, scientists struggled 41 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: to figure out why. They developed a hypothesis that magneto 42 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,639 Speaker 1: hydrodynamic waves distribute energy from below the photosphere directly up 43 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: to the corona, almost like an express train with no 44 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: local stops. Magneto hydrodynamics combines the studies of magnetic fields 45 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: and fluids that conduct electricity. The plasma that makes up 46 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,919 Speaker 1: the Sun is an extreme example of such a fluid. 47 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:05,320 Speaker 1: In British researchers used advances and imaging technology to investigate 48 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: the Sun's chromosphere, that layer in between the photosphere and 49 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:13,120 Speaker 1: the corona and actually examine some of these magneto hydrodynamic waves. 50 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: Their calculations confirmed that the waves could be responsible for 51 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:22,840 Speaker 1: transporting energy to the corona and heating that layer. Richard Morton, 52 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: a scientist for the UK's Northumbria University, explained when announcing 53 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:31,600 Speaker 1: the discovery quote, our observations have permitted us to estimate 54 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:35,160 Speaker 1: the amount of energy transported by the magnetic waves, and 55 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: these estimates reveal that the waves energy meets the energy 56 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 1: requirement for the unexplained temperature increase in the corona. Today's 57 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article weird physics. The closer 58 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: you get to the Sun, the cooler it gets on 59 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot Com, written by Patrick J. Tiger. 60 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio impart partnership 61 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: with how stuff Works dot Com, and it is produced 62 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: by Tyler Playing and Ramsay Young. Four more podcasts my 63 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 64 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.