Aurora Borealis Flashcards
What kinds of lights are the Aurora Borealis?
northern and southern
What kinds of particles collide with neutral atoms from the atmosphere?
high energy particles
What depart from the suns corona?
protons and electrons
What is plasma?
tons of protons and electrons mixed together with no shape
What is solar wind
Stream of charged particles that flow from the suns corona into the solar system
How does the Earth prevent solar wind?
It sets up a megnetosphere
What is a magnetosphere?
The space surrounding Earth where Earth’s magnetic field is dominant
What do particles do when they interact?
emit photons
What does colour depend on?
photons wavelength
What is an aurora?
a light based phenomena
What is a coronal mass ejection?
energy from the sun
What elements does light interact with?
Nitrogen and oxygen
What do nitrogen and oxygen absorb?
What kind of reaction is this?
electrons
physical
What gives colours?
height and type of reaction
What is a theory?
laws, explains phenomena, predicts what will happen
not assumptions, hypotheses, or hunches
What does everything start with?
a wave
What are the parts of a wave?
trough, crest, amplitude, wavelength, frequency
What is amplitude?
how high a wave gets
What is wavelength?
how far apart a wave gets
measured in distance (m)
What is frequency?
how long it takes for each wavelength
measured in time (1/s or Hz)
What kind of relationship does wavelength and frequency have?
inverse
Higher frequency =
shorter wavelength
Lower frequency =
longer wavelength
List the electromagnetic spectrum
radio, micro, infrared, visible light, UV, x-ray, gamma
What is electromagnetic radiation?
energy transferred by waves
Does red have a lower frequency than purple?
yes
Infrared
800 nm
Red
700 nm
Yellow
600 nm
Green-blue
500 nm
Violet
400 nm
UV
300 nm
Do all electromagnetic waves move at the speed of light?
yes
What is the speed of light?
3.00 x 10^8 m/s
