Aurora Borealis

 

Overview

Folklore is rich with explanations for the stunning night-sky lights, the aurora borealis. Various cultures have explained them as dancing spirits or blood raining from the clouds. Aurora was the Roman goddess of the dawn. Boreal is a Latin word, meaning "north." Thus, the northern lights. In the Antarctic, the lights are called the aurora australialis, or southern lights. The source of the auroras is the sun. The sun gives off high-energy charged particles (also called ions ) that travel out into space at speeds of 200 to 440 miles per second. A "cloud" or gas of such ions and electrons is called a plasma . The stream of plasma coming from the sun is known as the solar wind . As the solar wind interacts with the fringes of the earth's magnetic field , the particles are "shocked" into flowing around the earth. Some of the particles are trapped by the earth's magnetic field. They follow the magnetic lines of force down to the ionosphere . The particles strike the gases in the ionosphere, causing them to glow, the same way electrons passing through the gases in a neon tube make a neon sign light up. The colors correspond to the different gases in the ionosphere. Oxygen atoms give off red and green light, depending on how high they are in the ionosphere. Nitrogen molecules give off blue and violet light. The northern lights are always moving, like giant curtains of light weaving and swaying across the sky. This is caused by the constantly changing interaction between the solar wind and the earth's magnetic field. It is not unusual for the solar wind to generate 100,000 megawatts of electricity in a three-hour auroral display. This can cause temporary interference with power lines, radio and television broadcasts, and satellite-to-earth communications. By studying the auroras, scientists can learn more about the solar wind and how it affects the earth's atmosphere.

Activity

Find out how to turn on the light. Use some common materials to discover if ions conduct electricity. Materials

• beaker
• 1 meter of insulated bell wire
• distilled water
• 2-1.5-volt dry cells
• 3-volt flashlight bulb (microlamp)
• paper towels
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup salt
• wire cutters to strip insulation from wires

1. Cut the bell wire into three pieces and strip 1 cm of insulation from the end of each piece.
2. Connect the two batteries with one wire.
3. Connect one end of the remaining wire to a battery; connect the other end to the flashlight bulb. Attach the third piece of wire to the second battery and to the bulb.
4. Cut one wire in the circuit between the bulb and battery; remove 1 cm of insulation.
5. Place two bare ends of the wire into a beaker filled halfway with distilled water. How does the light react?
6. Dry off the ends of the wire; pour 1/4 cup of the salt on a paper towel. Put the wire ends into the salt. How does the light react?
7. Clean and dry the ends of wire again, sprinkle a few grams of sugar into the water, and place the ends of the wire into the water/sugar mixture. What happens to the bulb?
8. Replace the sugar water with plain distilled water. Add the salt. Does the light react?

Resources

Akasofu, S.I. (1982) The aurora: New light on an old subject. Sky and
Telescope (Dec): 534.
Akasofu, S.I. (1989) The dynamic aurora. Scientific American (May): 90.
Maran, S.P., ed. (1992) The astronomy and astrophysics encyclopedia.
New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Additional sources of information:
NASA
Education Division
Mail Code F
Washington, DC 20546
NASA
Johnson Space Center
Media Services
Houston, TX 77058
(auroral photographs)
NOAA, E/GCI, Dept. 883
National Geophysical Data Center
325 Broadway
Boulder, CO 80303
(303) 497-3000
(print materials, slides, satellite images)
Community resources:
University astronomy department
Meteorologists

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