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from http://spaceweather.com/ (a nasa site) I read:
Yesterday on the sun, a magnetic filament snapped.
I would like to think that some of my sharp HS students might wonder
about the 'basic physics' involved here.
I like to visualize 'lines of magnetic flux' as Faraday did.
Basic physics says that these flux lines have no ends - so how can they 'snap'?
(WWFS - What Would Feynmann Say?)
I am imagining a beam of magnetic lines along which protons are
spiraling up, against gravity. Suppose the protons are suddenly "blow
away" by something. The magnetic loop is still in existence, but
without material particles in it.