Solar Storm

You might have heard of wind storm, cyclonic storm, hail storm etc. But recently there is a lot of discussion about the solar storm. Yes, you read it right, the sun also has storms-a little different from the ones which we are used to.

These solar storms are Coronal Mass Ejections from the sun which is nothing but a stream of charged particles thrown up from the Sun's surface along magnetic lines of force.

Now, why will the Sun want to throw out its matter?

The Sun is not a solid body, but made up of gases [92.1% hydrogen and 7.8% helium].Most of its mass is concentrated in the center around the nucleus. The temperature of the nucleus is large enough to ionize the atoms of gas. These 'hot ions' being lighter rises and move from

the hot Sun center to the cooler Sun periphery, while the cold and heavy particles move to the centre to fill the vacuum. This sets up convection currents.

According to the universal laws of physics-charged particles in motion create magnetic fields. So, these convecting particles create magnetic lines of force along which they move. They rise up from the Sun's surface to tens and thousands of kilometres.

What is it that forces these particles to break free from the enormous attractive force of the sun?

When these magnetic lines of force intersect, a wave of ions is spewed radially outwards from the sun, and sometimes it gets directed towards the earth. This is what is perceived as a solar storm by the earth owing to the disastrous effects it has.

Though we have the atmosphere protecting us, these sun storms could cause disturbances in satellite and radio transmissions, knock out power, disrupt communication systems like the cell phone signals, internet and the GPS and disrupt the earth's magnetic fields resulting in frying(literally) of our power stations and gadgets.

But those who already started saying their prayers relax! A solar storm will never be powerful enough to wipe out all communication systems so eventually you can use your watsapp and Facebook. Moreover, a UPS or a voltage stabilizer could protect your appliances from voltage fluctuations caused due to the disrupted magnetic field.

On the upside, solar storms exhibit a beautiful display of aurora in the sky, so you could rather sit and gaze at the sky instead of being around your gadgets. Solar storms have hit us in the past and we may have to face others in the future, which are likely to affect us in more severe way for which thanks to our ever-growing dependence on electronic devices. The best we can do is to be aware for any news announcements on channels and websites and have backups for all our fancy gadgets.

 (Aditi Singh)