Suns interior, Solar Activity, Nuclear fusion

Types of solar activity: sunspots, coronal loops, prominences, solar flares, CMEs

What causes solar activity: the sun’s magnetic field

What affects do solar activity have on Earth: they make auroras, and they affect our power grid and other electronics like satellites

Difference between active and quiet sun: Active is the time period when we see activity involving magnetic fields such as sunspots flares and loops, which quiet is inactive

Define solar wind: charged particles (electrons for example) flowing away from the sun through coronal holes.

What does solar wind do: It pushes particles through coronal holes where the magnetic field extends away from the sun. It interacts with other planet’s atmospheres, even causing auroras, affecting animas navigation ability, and affecting astronauts.

What are sunspots: Cooler areas in the photosphere that appear darker because they emit less light than surrounding areas. Sunspots appear where the magnetic field loops pass through the photosphere and occur in pairs

Every 11 years what happens: the sunspot cycle, which flips the poles and changes the number of sunspots

Solar maximum: peak of sunspot and activity

Coronal loops: loops of bright charged gas in Corona

Prominences: fountains of hot rising gas in the chromosphere constrained by magnetic fields. Very high speeds

Solar flares (CMEs): violent coronal mass ejections that are bigger than prominences. Intense x-rays, gamma rays, and ultraviolet radiation. They make particles flow into space

What keeps the sun shining: nuclear fusion, which is the main sequence of a star

How does nuclear fusion process work: It occurs in the core, and Hydrogen if the fuel source. Lighter 4 hydrogens atoms at high temperatures and speed collide and combine to make 1 heavier helium atom through heat and a strong nuclear force that overrides their positively charged magnetic repellence. This makes leftover mass, which is equivalent to energy.

Hydrogen fusion: the proton chain, which is a 3-step process to get from Hydrogen to Helium and releases neutrinos.

How do neutrinos behave: They have low mass and hardly interact with matter; they pass right through us and earth.

Hydrostatic equilibrium: the balance between the inward force of gravity and outward force of pressure of gas which keeps the sun from collapsing

Energy transport: 2 processes in the inner and outer part of the sun that move energy from the core to the surface of the sun

Inner part of the sun’s interior right above the core is the: Radiative zone

Radiative transfer: energy moved by light (photons). Hotter photons are moved from the core to cooler regions (outward)

Outer part of the sun’s interior is: the convective zone. Cooler and opaque

Convection: physical motion of hot material (gas) rising and falling.

Energy that reaches the surface: energy is released into space as light, radiation again. It takes energy 100000 years to reach sun’s surface. Photons get absorbed and remitted or deflected.