Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, Brainstuff florin
Speaker 1: vogelbamb here. The Sun makes almost all life as we
Speaker 1: know it on Earth possible, but there's still a lot
Speaker 1: we don't understand about this miasma of incandescent plasma. As
Speaker 1: the band they might be giants have put it, for example,
Speaker 1: exactly how powerful are its magnetic storms. Could a solar
Speaker 1: flare or other event on the surface of the Sun
Speaker 1: affect us here on Earth. Here's what we do know.
Speaker 1: The Sun is a massive object comprised of intensely hot
Speaker 1: ionized gases. We call this kind of gas plasma, and
Speaker 1: it's the most common state of matter in the universe.
Speaker 1: The atoms that make up the gases in the Sun
Speaker 1: are so hot that they can't hold on to their electrons.
Speaker 1: The gases flowing currents through the Sun, carrying electrons with them.
Speaker 1: If you're at all familiar with electromagnets, you know that
Speaker 1: an electrical current can create a magnetic field. That's the
Speaker 1: case with the Sun. The Sun has an enormous magnetic
Speaker 1: field around it. The rotation of the Sun perpetuates this
Speaker 1: magnetic field. To make matters more complicated, Hot objects tend
Speaker 1: to expand, and the Sun is an extremely hot object.
Speaker 1: But the Sun is also large and dense, which means
Speaker 1: it has a strong gravitational pull. The Sun's gravity balances
Speaker 1: out its tendency to expand the combination of these forces
Speaker 1: can cause the Sun's surface to change in dramatic and
Speaker 1: sometimes violent ways. The currents of gas can cause magnetic
Speaker 1: field lines to twist that can prevent hotter gases from
Speaker 1: the Sun's core from rising to the surface, creating sun spots.
Speaker 1: The sunspots are cooler and darker than the areas that
Speaker 1: surround them. The hot gas trapped beneath sunspots exerts pressure
Speaker 1: on the magnetic field lines, which can wind them into
Speaker 1: even tighter coils. Sometimes more field lines become entangled. Once
Speaker 1: in a while, the magnetic field lines will uncoil without
Speaker 1: much incident, and the sunspot will fade as the hot
Speaker 1: gases rise again to the surface. But sometimes the pressure
Speaker 1: continues to build until the magnetic field lines snap out suddenly,
Speaker 1: causing a solar flare. A solar flare isn't just an
Speaker 1: explosion of hot gases. It pushes out waves all across
Speaker 1: the electromagnetic spectrum that includes visible light that we can
Speaker 1: see and types of waves that we can't, including X
Speaker 1: rays and gamma rays. These can be dangerous to humans. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: our atmosphere absorbs most high energy rays like this, but
Speaker 1: that's not to say everyone is in the clear after
Speaker 1: a solar flare. Humans in space or at high altitudes
Speaker 1: on an airplane, for example, could risk exposure to intense radiation.
Speaker 1: Short term damage could include skin irritation. Long term consequences
Speaker 1: might include an increased risk of developing skin cancer, but
Speaker 1: it's likely that any affected human would eventually recover from
Speaker 1: the exposure. Electronics are also vulnerable to these rays. If
Speaker 1: high energy rays were to hit a satellite, they could
Speaker 1: strip electrons from the metal components, ionizing them. As electrons
Speaker 1: break free, they could short out the electronics within the satellite.
Speaker 1: They could also create a magnetic field that would damage
Speaker 1: the satellite systems. Some satellites do have shielding to protect
Speaker 1: them from these rays, but many are vulnerable because Earth's
Speaker 1: atmosphere absorbs most of these dangerous rays. Terrestrial electronics are
Speaker 1: fairly safe from solar flares, but another type of solar event,
Speaker 1: called a coronal mass ejection or CME, cause serious problems.
Speaker 1: For electrical systems here on Earth. During a CME, the
Speaker 1: fluctuations of the Sun's magnetic fields cause a large portion
Speaker 1: of the surface of the Sun to expand rapidly, ejecting
Speaker 1: billions of tons of particles out into space. Sometimes CMEs
Speaker 1: accompany solar flares, but not all solar flares produce CMEs,
Speaker 1: and not all CMEs happen in the company of solar flares.
Speaker 1: Unlike a solar flare, a coronal mass ejection doesn't produce
Speaker 1: intense light, but it does produce a magnetic shockwave that
Speaker 1: extends billions of miles out into space. If Earth is
Speaker 1: in the path of that shockwave, our planet's magnetic field
Speaker 1: will react to the event. It's similar to what happens
Speaker 1: if you put a weak magnet next to a strong one.
Speaker 1: The weak magnets field will align itself to these strong
Speaker 1: magnets field. A magnetic shockwave from the Sun could cause
Speaker 1: the alignment of Earth's magnetic field to shift unpredictably. The
Speaker 1: Northern and Southern lights are observable examples of how a
Speaker 1: CME can affect the Earth. These colorful lights result from
Speaker 1: subatomic particles moving at incredible speed, which causes gases like
Speaker 1: oxygen and nitrogen to ionize in our atmosphere. As the
Speaker 1: atoms in the gases recombine with electrons, they emit light.
Speaker 1: This mainly happens where Earth's magnetic field lines converge at
Speaker 1: the planet's magnetic poles. Pretty lights aren't the only consequence
Speaker 1: from a CME, but exactly how badly off could we
Speaker 1: be after such an event. Coronal mass ejections have affected
Speaker 1: the Earth in the past. In eighteen fifty nine, a
Speaker 1: CME caused enormous fluctuations in the Earth's magnetosphere the magnetic
Speaker 1: fields surrounding the planet. People living as far south as
Speaker 1: Cuba witnessed the Northern lights phenomenon. The magnetic fluctuations caused
Speaker 1: compasses and telegraph systems to fail. At the time, scientists
Speaker 1: and academics debated the cause of all the commotion, though
Speaker 1: we now recognize it as a CME so massive that
Speaker 1: it caused what we call a solar superstorm. Today, we
Speaker 1: depend much more heavily upon electronics and electricity in general
Speaker 1: than we did in eighteen fifty nine. If a similar
Speaker 1: solar superstorm were to hit us now, we'd be in
Speaker 1: trouble because magnetic fields can induce electricity. Any conductor could
Speaker 1: become an inductor, a meaning a powerful CME could induce
Speaker 1: electricity in any large powerful conductor of electricity like power
Speaker 1: transformers and the power grid itself, that could overload electrical
Speaker 1: systems and cause massive damage. The power grid in North
Speaker 1: America operates at near capacity. It wouldn't be able to
Speaker 1: handle the increased electrical load from a solar superstorm. A
Speaker 1: power could sag and even snap. As a result, massive
Speaker 1: power outages could affect much of the continent. The magnetic
Speaker 1: fluctuations would interfere with radio signals and communication and satellite
Speaker 1: systems could go offline. It could take weeks or months
Speaker 1: to repair the damage. During that time, people would have
Speaker 1: no way to find out what was going on other
Speaker 1: than sheer word of mouth. Emergency services would face serious challenges.
Speaker 1: While the magnetic fields would probably not short out individual
Speaker 1: electronic devices like cell phones or computers, communications systems could
Speaker 1: fail regionally. In other words, small devices would still work,
Speaker 1: but would lack the services they require to be useful.
Speaker 1: It is possible that a coronal mass ejection could affect
Speaker 1: your computer and cause glitches. In most cases, a simple
Speaker 1: reboot would solve the problem, but with the loss of
Speaker 1: the power grid, you'd be limited by your batteries charge,
Speaker 1: and once that ran out, you'd be stuck. There's no
Speaker 1: way to prevent a solar superstorm, but there are steps
Speaker 1: we can take to limit the impact of a CME. A.
Speaker 1: One is to overhaul the power grid system. We need
Speaker 1: a smart grid that isn't operating so close to capacity
Speaker 1: as our current grid is. We also need to develop
Speaker 1: shielding to protect our electrical infrastructure from magnetic fluctuations as
Speaker 1: much as possible. However, even in the worst case scenarios,
Speaker 1: superstorms wouldn't wipe out all electrical systems across the planet.
Speaker 1: Some regions would remain relatively unaffected. It would require a
Speaker 1: solar event of unprecedented magnitude to wipe out all the
Speaker 1: electronics on Earth, but even a modest coronal mass ejection
Speaker 1: could demonstrate just how vulnerable we are to the Sun's
Speaker 1: magnetic temper tantrums. Today's episode is based on the article
Speaker 1: could an extremely powerful soul flair destroy all the electronics
Speaker 1: on Earth? On HowStuffWorks dot com, written by Jonathan Strickland.
Speaker 1: To hear more from Jonathan, check out his podcast Large
Speaker 1: nerdron Collider. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.
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