The Sun Test Flashcards
What is convection?
Transfer of heat via movement of a medium. (Boiling water)
What is conduction?
Transfer of heat via physical contact.
What is radiation?
Heat transfer via waves. (Fireplace)
What are the 6 layers of the Sun?
Core, radiative zone, convective zone, photosphere, chromosphere, and corona.
What state of matter are the atoms in the sun in?
Plasma.
What is the Sun made up of?
Helium and hydrogen.
Define sun spots.
Dark cool regions on the photosphere.
What are sunspots caused by?
Rotation, movement of plasma, and magnetic fields.
Define solar prominences.
Large arcs of glowing plasma.
What are solar prominences caused by?
Plasma particles getting pulled into magnetic fields.
Define solar flares.
Short, violent eruptions of electrically charged particles.
What are solar flares caused by?
Breaks in magnetic fields.
Define auroras.
Colored bands of light seen on Earth.
What are auroras caused by?
Electrically charged particles from solar wind, disturbing Earth’s magnetic field.
What protects the Earth from solar flares and coronal mass ejections?
It’s magnetic field, and partly because of its atmosphere.
How do scientists use sunspots to study solar weather?
They determine the possibility and chance of solar activity by amount of sunspots.
Describe how energy is released in the sun’s core and is transferred through each layer to earth.
Nuclear fusion happens in the core, it radiates through the radiative zone, the convective zone transfers it outwards, the energy radiates through the photosphere, it radiates through the chromosphere, and finally radiates through the outermost layer the corona.
