WEBVTT - How can the sun affect my electronics? 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.959 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.880 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.239 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:22.880 and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:26.119 Sitting across from me as always a senior writer, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:32.560 It seems like years since it's been clear. Nice. Yeah, 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:35.040 So here comes the sun. Guys. We're gonna talk about 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.080 the sun and how it can affect electronics. You guys 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.120 have probably been hearing about this, uh in the news 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:45.400 because we're coming up on the peak of sunspot activity 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.440 during its eleven year cycle and uh, and so there's 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:51.360 been a lot of talk about what this might do 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:54.480 to electronics and power grids and that kind of thing. 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.200 And we want to kind of talk to you about 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.360 what the sun can do, how it can do and why. 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.840 You know, we need to be concentrating on things like 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.200 upgrading the power of grid at least in North America 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.560 to h to prepare ourselves for this kind of stuff. Um. Now, really, 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:14.480 to start off, we need to know what the sun is. 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.080 I mean that that would help us tremendously in the discussion. 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:21.360 So it's that big yellow thing up there in the sky. Well, 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.560 I would like to refer to a song that was 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:28.240 written by high Zerit and Lose Singer, but was made 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.400 more famous by a group called They Might Be Giants. Now, 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.520 the song starts with the sun is a mass of 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:40.200 incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace. Now, as it turns 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:44.200 out high and lou and by extension, they might be 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:51.280 giant Scott. That not exactly accurate. So the sun is 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:56.160 not just a mass of incandescent gas a gigantic nuclear furnace. Um, 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:58.760 it's it's a little more complex than that. And in fact, 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:00.840 before I go any further, I should add that They 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:05.920 Might be Giants has since recorded another song that addresses this. 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.520 They go into more detail, and it's part of their 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:11.560 children's series, so you can check that out. But what 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:18.520 the sun is, it's a gigantic ball of plasma. Yeah, plasma. 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:20.799 I'm sorry, there's a joke that that in my head 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:22.880 I always say, and I just decided not to go 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:25.160 with it this time. So that's why you had to pause, 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:29.359 because play out. Yes, yeah, it is in fact um 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.639 and it has been around for quite some time, and 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:35.040 it isn't expected to be quite some time more because 0:02:35.080 --> 0:02:40.080 it is UH gradually using up a vast supply of helium. Yes. 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:44.840 So the sun plasma, we've talked about it many many times. 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.200 Plasma is an ionized gas. It's gas that has free 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.280 roaming electrons in it. Uh. In the case of the Sun, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:56.480 the temperatures are so high that that energy strips atoms 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.520 of their electrons. That's what causes the electrons to to 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.440 fly out. And we've also talked about in the past 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:07.400 that when electrons flow, that's electricity. And one of the 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:12.520 by products of an electrical flow is a magnetic field, right, 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.720 And this is what the basis of electromagnets are. That's 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:20.320 that's the whole foundation, right, that you can induce electricity 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.160 through by using a magnetic field. That's a that's a 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:27.320 dynamo or did you yeah, Yes, that would be a dynamo, right. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.640 Electromagnet is the other way around. Yeah. I thought that's 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:31.640 where you were going. Yeah, And I realized as I 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:34.519 was saying it that I was going backwards. Electromagnet. You 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.320 use electricity to create a magnetic field, m a dynamo, 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:42.200 use a magnetic field to induce electricity. So that's really 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.680 the basis of where these problems come from. But we'll 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.600 we'll get build a little further. So the Sun is 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:55.880 pretty complex, especially with magnetic fields. The Earth, as a comparison, 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.640 is very simple. If you look at the Earth, if 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:00.200 you were to be able to look at the Earth 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:02.520 and think of it like a you know, you make 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.880 the Earth kind of a clear ball, um, the magnetic 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.240 field would go around the Earth as if there was 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.600 a small bar magnet running through the center of the 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:15.160 Earth with the north pole in the south pole. Yeah, 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:16.760 if you look inside your head right now, you'll see 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.120 an illustration of exactly what we're talking about. Yeah, it's 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.240 a lot harder for us to actually show this on 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:24.240 an audio podcast, but the the idea here being that 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.720 you would have these magnetic fields that link the one 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:32.080 pole of the magnet to the other pole. And uh, 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.440 we usually draw these out by these big loops. And 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.680 if you ever look at a drawing of a magnetic field, 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.279 you'll see these lines we call magnetic field lines. Um 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.039 that that kind of give you an indication of how 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:48.200 strong the fields are. If you see lots of lines 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.000 parallel to one another. That means that that's where the 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.000 field is particularly strong. And then there may be a 0:04:54.040 --> 0:04:56.599 big gap and you see another line. Well, that means 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:58.839 that the field is not particularly strong in that area, 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:04.839 but it's still extends to the side. Here's an interesting rule. Okay, 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:09.640 magnetic field lines cannot cross really really and this is 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.400 possibly why the Sun is the way it is. When 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:16.320 you look at the Sun, you think of the sun 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:22.400 in um and three major uh layers. Okay, you got 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:26.440 the photosphere, which is the core of it. Uh, that 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:32.480 gets pretty hot. That's that's an understatement. Fift million degrees 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:35.880 or so. Pretty hot. That's pretty hot. Fifteen million degrees. Yes, 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.920 that is warmer than Atlanta in the summer. I'm pretty 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.560 sure you could make a tray of chicken nuggets in 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:46.360 a pretty short time. Yeah, you can paporize them instantaneously. Yeah, 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:49.360 that that would do it. The surface of the Sun, however, 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:54.360 is a relatively chilly five thousand degrees. Yes, so, uh, 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:56.200 you know you've got the core that that's where you're 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.880 getting to the chromosphere. I'm sorry, did you say that 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.400 the surface the actual surface of the sun. But beyond 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:05.960 the surface of the sun is something called the corona. 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:11.640 Now the corona can be two million degrees so the corona, 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.159 and and people might say, well, how can the corona, 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:17.159 which is the next layer out, how can that be 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.880 hotter than the surface of the sun. Uh, And that's 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:23.080 a good question, and we're not entirely sure that we 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:26.320 know the answer. But the possible explanation is that it's 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:30.720 because magnetic field lines are constantly shifting on the surface 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:34.040 of the Sun. And these are relatively small compared to 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:38.839 the the entire mass of the Sun. But because magnetic 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.920 field lines cannot cross, any time that one magnetic field 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.800 gets close to another, they have to readjust they cannot 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.200 cross one another. And that this, this constant shifting, is 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.920 what generates the energy necessary to create that massive amount 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.919 of heat in the corona, because otherwise you would think, like, 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.279 if you think of like a heat source, the heat 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.000 dissipates the fur or away you get from the source, right, sure, 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:04.240 So that's why it gets confusing, like how could you 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.600 get hotter than the surface if you're further away from 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:09.680 the source of the heat, which presumably would be the 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.800 core um. So that's that's part of it. So the 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.000 Sun has all these magnetic fields and that's where some 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.840 problems can happen. That's true. Yeah. You may have heard 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:25.600 these things called sun spots. Yes, so yeah, go ahead. 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.400 I was going to say, sun spots are at least 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.800 according to uh to Noah, the government agency, not the 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.160 guy with the big boat with the animals. Um, sun 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:39.160 spots are are areas in which the magnetic field is 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:45.400 about times uh stronger than than the Earth's right. Yeah, 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.200 and these are and it's it's higher than anywhere else 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.520 in the Sun for that matter. So you know that that. Um, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.040 you know, they pop up from time to time. But 0:07:54.080 --> 0:07:57.120 what's odd is the temperature on those areas is cooler. Yeah. 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.720 What's happening is uh, hot gas is from the core 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:05.080 of the sun rise towards the surface. Okay, so so 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:07.240 here's another thing about the Sun. This is part of 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.640 the reason why magnetic fields gets so uh so wound 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:12.880 up on the surface of the Sun or in the 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:17.360 corona even Um, it's that you've got two major forces 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:20.480 at play here. You've got the tendency for hot things 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:24.040 to expand. The Sun is extremely hot, so therefore it's 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.560 trying to expand quite a bit. But you also have 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.160 the force of gravity because the Sun is very dense 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.560 and very large, so it has a very strong gravitational 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.760 pull and the gravity is kind of what holds it 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.720 together while it's also trying to expand, and this creates 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:40.240 a lot of pressure, which is what sort of can 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.760 muck up the magnetic field lines on the surface. Now, 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.840 if you get these magnetic field lines clumping together again, 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.160 they're not crossing, but they're all kind of gathering into 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:56.080 a space, that's what can suppress that hot gas from 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.160 the core from getting to the surface. So that's where 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.320 that area of surface begins to cool in comparison to 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:04.880 the rest of the surface of the Sun. It makes 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:08.440 the darker spot on the Sun, that's the Sun's spot. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:11.280 So yeah, if you were to to look at the 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:16.040 Sun using um uh an electronic telescope, something that's not 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:18.199 going to burn your retinas out, you would actually be 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.040 able to see that the there are little spots on 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:22.800 the Sun that are darker than the rest, and that 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.520 would be where these magnetic fields are preventing that hot 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:31.280 gas from rising to the surface. Now, sometimes they fix themselves. 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.079 Sometimes they fix themselves. Sometimes the magnetic field lines will 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:39.760 become untwisted and the gases will be able to rise 0:09:39.800 --> 0:09:42.719 to the surface and the surface will warm up to 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:44.840 the same temperature as the rest of the surface, and 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:49.240 the sun spot will go away. Sometimes they don't, Okay, 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:54.199 then well they don't. Is the big thing? Do you 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:56.320 want to talk about? The big thing? The big thing 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:59.800 the solar flares? Okay, I mean we guess, I guess 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:02.160 we And I was going to uh to add, by 0:10:02.160 --> 0:10:04.640 the way, a couple of technical terms, so please do please, 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.240 and just a couple of interesting facts too, because the 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.480 they're too. Basically, a dark region of the sun spot 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:15.319 is known as the umbra, and there's a lighter region 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.800 immediately around it called the pannumbra um. But yeah, it's 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.720 it's different. And the reason the reason they are that 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:26.120 color is because of the temperature. But they may seem 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.320 very small if you were to see photos of sun spots. 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:33.120 I've seen quite a few of them in photos uh 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:36.920 distributed by NASA. Uh they look pretty small. But keep 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:42.400 in mind that again according to Noah, that the typical 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.640 size of one of those teeny tiny sun spots is 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:47.760 about the size of you know, the Earth, So they're 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.240 they're actually quite large. They're small in relation to the 0:10:51.280 --> 0:10:54.760 size of the sun overall, but in relation to us, 0:10:55.040 --> 0:11:00.880 they are enormous. Yes, so yes, solar flavor relative. Yeah, 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.199 so solar flyer. So I was talking about how the 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:06.080 magnetic field line sort of clumped together. You can kind 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.600 of think of them as coils, like think of think 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:12.920 of a metal cable, alright, that and one end is 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:17.080 secured to something, all right, and then just imagine that 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.360 you're twisting that cable and as you twist it, you're 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:24.640 building up tension, and theoretically, uh, well, let's say you 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.959 just keep on twisting and twisting and twisting. It's kinking up, 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:31.720 and then eventually it breaks free of whatever you've secured 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:36.319 it to. Yes, okay, it's gonna untangle very violently, very quickly. 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.079 The cable is gonna whip around, and I wouldn't want 0:11:40.080 --> 0:11:42.760 to be next to it. You wouldn't. You'd get freshed, 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:45.720 might not get cut in half, according to the MythBusters, 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.880 but you're gonna get bruised up pretty badly. And yeah, 0:11:50.000 --> 0:11:52.600 don't hang a pig next to the sun. I guess 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:54.840 it is the moral of that story. If you've seen 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.040 that episode of MythBusters, that makes sense. Otherwise, that's just 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:02.320 the strangest, strangest non sequit or ever, but at any rate, 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.079 So the magnetic field lines are like this. They can 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.640 coil up and get really really really twisted and if 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.280 eventually something has to give. Now, like I said, sometimes 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:16.600 they redistribute and everything's calm and everything's cool, but uh, 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:21.520 actually everything's warming up. But sometimes they snap and not 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.040 snap is in break, but snap is in They uncoil 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.040 very very quickly and violently, and as a result, material 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.640 from the sun and light from the Sun ejects out 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:33.480 into space in a very kind of violent eruption. And 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:37.319 that's what we call solar flare. And uh that mostly 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.960 ends up being a lot of light in the complete spectrum, 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:43.760 not just the visible spectrum, but things like X rays, 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.840 gamma rays, ultraviolet light that gets ejected out there too, 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.600 and uh and most of that is bad for us. Yep. 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.800 The the flares, the solar flares can be uh you know, 0:12:54.880 --> 0:13:00.120 several million degrees fahrenheit and uh they could again according 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.920 to a release as much energy as uh t n T, 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.959 like you know, a billion mega tons of t n T. 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:12.440 So it's extremely violent reaction right now. Fortunately, the Earth's 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.960 atmosphere and magnetosphere helped protect us against these uh, this 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:20.200 light that comes out from the solar flares, So solar 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:25.000 flares don't tend to bother us too much because the 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:27.440 Earth's atmosphere absorbs a lot of that light, so things 0:13:27.440 --> 0:13:28.920 like the gamma rays and X rays, we don't have 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.200 to worry about getting I radiated from a solar flare 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.520 most of the time. I say most of the time, 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.280 because there are exceptions. If you happen to be a 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.840 an astronaut in outer space, you could be vulnerable to 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.040 the energy released from a solar flare. Now, if you 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.559 get into spacecraft, most spacecraft are shielded against such things, 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:51.600 so you're not gonna necessarily suffer the effects. Um, although 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:54.760 you could end up with something akin to a sunburn 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.359 or some cellular damage. But from most of the the 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:03.400 material I've read, such damage is not necessarily permanent or 0:14:03.559 --> 0:14:06.480 or catastrophic in nature. But it's you know, you still 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:10.000 don't want it to happen. You never want to get hurt, 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:14.280 so um, but it can also do nasty things like 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.480 it can if if this energy were to hit, say 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.320 a satellite that doesn't have proper shielding on it, it 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:23.760 could actually strip the electrons from the satellite and create 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.360 magnetic fields in the satellite, which could fry the satellites electronics. 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.800 That seems that seem yeah, that's not good. Now, a 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.480 lot of satellites are shielded against this, particularly things like 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:38.320 military satellites. UM, not all of them are because just 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:40.080 you know, it's one of those things where you have 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:42.520 to pour in extra R and D and everything to 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.440 to create a shielded satellite. So some communication satellites could 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:50.520 suffer if if a solar flare erupted towards Earth and 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:53.000 uh and we got hit by the energy. Keep in 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.280 mind that you know this, this, this, these kind of 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.880 activities are happening all over the Sun, and not all 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.960 of those are going to be directed at us true, 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:03.120 so we don't necessarily have to worry about this every 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:07.160 time it happens, just when it's pointed at us UM. Now, 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:11.160 solar flares are are can be annoying, but those aren't 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.280 the things that are really going to affect us UM 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.720 on the ground most of the time, apart from maybe 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:21.280 some disruption of some communications material satellites. What we have 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:24.320 to worry about our c M ease, I mean the 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:29.440 coronal mass eject ejections ronal mass ejections. I'm sorry, no, no, no, 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.080 you thought I was getting ready to misspeak and I 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:37.280 didn't know you you were on track. Yeah, coronal mass ejections. Now, 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.240 these can sometimes accompany a solar flare, uh, and sometimes 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:45.280 they happen without a solar flare. UM. Coronal mass ejection 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:47.960 is remember we were talking about the corona earlier, that 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:52.280 that area around the sun that's set two million degrees Uh. 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.640 A chronal mass ejection is pretty much what sounds like. 0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:00.760 It's a mass from the corona being ejected out into space. Again, 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.160 it's a it's related to magnetic field lines UM. But 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:08.720 unlike a solar flare, which ejects both light and lots 0:16:08.720 --> 0:16:11.480 of particles, a kernel mass ejection does not eject a 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.840 lot of light, lots and lots of sub atomic particles though, 0:16:15.560 --> 0:16:19.160 and also which in turns sins out a magnetic shock 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:23.600 wave shock wave, yeah, which is not good. No, you 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.520 were mentioning magnetic fields like on Earth. Yes, indeed, And 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.480 the thing is um. Since these are frequently found around 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:32.680 sun spots, we have an idea of where they're going 0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:36.840 to happen. Yeah, although maybe not necessarily when right. Well, 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.120 and a couple of CMEs hit us that we're recording 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:44.600 this in in August, and a couple of SMEs um 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:49.040 erupted and and hit us just a few weeks ago. Fortunately, 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.840 did not really disrupt that much here on Earth, but 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.960 it could have. Um it could have created what we 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:00.400 call like a solar storm. But these CMEs, these these particles, 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:05.160 this magnetic field, it can really mess us up. If 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.080 you were have ever really done any experiments with magnets, 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:11.520 then you know that they behave in interesting ways. For example, 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.320 if you have a really powerful magnet and you bring 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:19.760 a less powerful magnet within its magnetic field, the less 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:23.280 powerful magnet will adjust its magnetic field to be aligned 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:26.920 with the more powerful magnet. Right, So if you were 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.800 to blast, say, I don't know, the Earth with a 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:36.040 huge magnetic shockwave, it could temporarily realign the Earth's magnetic field. Yes, 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.480 as a matter of fact, it is likely to compress 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.160 in this case, compress the magnetic field of the Earth 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:46.280 on the side the day side, and extended on the 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.600 other side, the night side. Yeah, and uh, it's basically 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:51.440 I guess if you could see it, it would sort 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:53.159 of look like it was stretching it out on the 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.400 other side, right, and you might go, why the day side, Well, 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:59.720 you know it's a side facing the sun. Yes, yeah, 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.919 funny how that happens. So so CMEs can do some 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.080 cool stuff, right, I mean one of the cool things 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.560 are the auroras, the Aurora borealis and Aurora ostrallis. You 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.040 might not necessarily have imagined that those would be related 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.280 to the magnetic field, but as it turns out they are. Yeah, 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:20.200 what's happening here is that the magnetic field changes on 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.040 on Earth. And of course you know the magnetic fields 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.680 originating at the polls, right, That's that's the source where 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.160 you know where the links are coming in. So when 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.920 the fluctuations hit, Uh, what will happen is that these 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:37.960 these particles, this magnetic field is stripping oxygen and nitrogen 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:44.480 of electrons, ionizing the atmosphere essentially, is what's what's happening now. 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.760 Once those uh, those atoms, those oxygen and nitrogen atoms 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:53.320 begin to lose energy, they will recombine with electrons. As 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.000 a result, they give off light. It's it's kind of 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.480 the you know, it's that's just part of the reaction 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.520 is as they get electrons, they'll give off light. And 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.959 that's the Aurora or the Aurora borealis and Aurora australis, 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:07.680 And depending on how strong the CME is, you might 0:19:07.720 --> 0:19:11.680 be able to see those effects pretty far away from 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:15.639 the polls. There was a famous event in eighteen I 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.640 think it was eighteen fifty nine where there was such 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:20.960 a strong CME. Now grant, we didn't even know what 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.400 that was at that point, but such a strong one 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.560 hit the earth that reportedly people as far south as 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.080 Cuba could see the Aurora borealis, which is significant. Yeah, 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.480 that's pretty phenomenal. Um. Now, Granted, back in back in 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:36.359 eighteen fifty nine, we didn't have a whole lot of 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.680 electronics to screw up, so it's kind of hard to 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:44.680 say how extensive that would have messed up our electronics today. 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.760 But they did have problems with telegraph systems and things 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:51.680 of that nature. Um, so that's uh, it's indicative that 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.560 we would have suffered problems today if it had happened 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:59.040 that way. Now, stuff things words that I can put 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:03.520 together incentive Well, it's not. It's certainly not the first 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:08.520 noticeable sun spot uh goings on. Um, you know as 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:10.919 far as the past, and we didn't necessarily know what 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:15.359 was going on because um, uh from the mid to 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.080 probably the early part of the next century. Uh, the 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.280 Mander minimum. Have you heard of this? I do not 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:26.400 know the Maunder minimum. Ha. Well, apparently there was very 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:30.080 little sunspot activity and there were a number of long winters. 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.840 Uh and uh, basically this was a little ice age. 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.520 I'm sure you've heard of that. Um, And they're they're 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.359 not sure. I mean, obviously this is a problem of 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:43.080 not having the instruments and know how at the time. 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:47.159 But it is coincidental that they at least coincidental that 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.879 those two things happened right about the same time. But 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.440 they're thinking that it is possible that the very low 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:57.720 sun spot activity may have had a part to play 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.080 in the little ice age. Also, UM, you know, we're 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:06.280 currently in what they're calling solar cycle twenty four. Uh. Catchy, 0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.960 I know, isn't it. Um, not that this apparently followed 0:21:10.080 --> 0:21:17.440 uh never mind um cycle exactly. But apparently they they 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:20.240 are expecting the scientists are expecting it to peak in 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:22.920 the next year or two. So the feeling we're we're 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.760 not going to be We're going to see more than 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.280 just the activity from a few weeks here Here's what 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:33.000 here's what irritates me. Why why do we have to 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:39.160 have the horrible coincidence of the Mayan calendar problem and 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.320 the sun spots cycle? Because yes, the sun spot cycle 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:45.880 should have a peak either in eleven or twenty twelve. 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:48.760 And as I'm sure many of you have heard, twelve 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:52.680 is the end of the Mayan Long count calendar. Um 0:21:52.960 --> 0:21:56.320 or I should say a Mayon long count calendar, because 0:21:56.320 --> 0:22:00.360 the mind's actually used multiple calendars and not just that one. Um. 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:02.960 So some people have gone on to say, hey, this 0:22:03.080 --> 0:22:05.520 might be what is going to be the end times. 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:08.560 I could know it's a coincidence, folks. I mean, I'm 0:22:08.560 --> 0:22:12.200 not gonna say that sunspots won't cause massive problems, because 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:16.000 they can. But um but it has nothing to do 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:20.040 with the Mayan calendar. Just don't even think about that. 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:23.440 So direct all your hate mail too, uh stuff you 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:27.600 should know so chron chronal mass ejections. We talked about 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:30.160 how you know it can it can really create these 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:34.359 powerful auroras where that that magnetic flux causes other problems 0:22:34.359 --> 0:22:37.200 as well. I did mention earlier about dynamos where you 0:22:37.280 --> 0:22:40.720 use a magnetic field to induce electricity. Yes, sometimes that 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:44.680 can happen even if you didn't intend it to. And yeah, 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:48.240 that is a major oh so for for big, big, 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:53.080 powerful conductors. So we're talking about things like electrical transformers 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:57.480 and power grids. Uh, if you create a magnetic flux 0:22:57.600 --> 0:23:01.520 around these, it can induce electricity to flow through them. Now, 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:04.840 if your if your power system has capacity for that, 0:23:04.840 --> 0:23:07.960 that's fine. But in North America, our power grid is 0:23:08.000 --> 0:23:12.840 operating almost at capacity all the time, so there's really 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:16.760 no room for more power to flow through this system. 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:20.320 And here's the if you were to create more power 0:23:20.359 --> 0:23:23.360 in this system, the big problem there would be that 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.439 you've got the system that that is already operating as 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:30.640 close to capacity as we can comfortably get. Uh, there's 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:33.680 an overflow issue. It seems strange, but if you put 0:23:33.720 --> 0:23:35.960 too much electricity through a power line, it can cause 0:23:36.000 --> 0:23:39.679