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Re: [Phys-l] sunspots‏

























Hello,

I am from Pittsburgh and I have to disagree
with the comment about the Super Bowl, but here is my interpretation of
the sunspot and temperature correlation. The sun has the 11 year cycle
where it goes through maximums and minimums in its sunspots, which are
related to higher and cooler temperature on the sun. The convection
currents inside the sun of rising warm material and sinking of the
cooler material cause the sun's magnetic field. Rotating positive ions
and electrons cause the sun's magnetic field, but not all the material
in the sun in rotating at the same rate. This means that when the
electrically charged particles around the equator of the sun move
faster than material at the poles, and the inner layers of the sun move
faster than the outer layers causing an imbalance in the magnetic
fields the charges create. When the crossing magnetic fields dip below
the upper atmosphere, they provide a deflection barrier for the rising
warmer charger particles forcing them to the edges of the newly created
sunspot. The sunspot becomes cooler because the material the magnetic
field is trapping no longer gains heat from the convection currents.
However, at the edges of the sunspot, the rising material meets warmer
material that was already working its way towards the surface of the
sun at the edge of the sunspot. This double dose of energy creates
zones right outside of the sunspot to become increases in thermal
energy and raise the output energy of the sun. If there are many
sunspots, when the sun is at a maximum, the rising material only has a
few locations to exit the surface of the sun and this increases the
energy the sun emits. It has been recorded in history that when there
is minimum sunspot activity the overall temperature of the sun is
cooler since the energy is allowed to dissipate evenly over the entire
surface of the sun and the overall temperature of the Earth becomes
cooler. During the maximums, the energy output of the sun is higher
due to the magnetic fields dipping below the surface of the sun and
cooling the sunspot locations. I have attached a link below to NASA's
website where you can read more about the process. I hope that my
explanation was helpful, it is a difficult concept to grasp, but this
is how I was taught this concept and how I explain it to my students.

http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/sun_worldbook.html
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/fsd/astro/sunspots.php

Ryan Tucek
Penn Trafford High School
Harrison City, PA 15636



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