The Sun

A) There are many different patterns in solar activities. These solar activities include the sunspot cycle, solar flares, and solar wind. Sunspots are the result of shifting magnetic field inside the sun. The sunspot cycle fluctuates with the number of sunspots and peaks every 11 years. During this period the sunspots "migrate from about 35 degrees north and south latitude toward the sun's equator." If the sunspots are plotted on a map during this 11 year period they make the shape of a butterfly's wings. Solar flares are "a sudden, rapid, and intense variation of brightness." A pattern of a solar flare includes a disruption of the sun's internal magnetic field. This is caused by a "magnetic twisting" that keeps building until the breaking point then burns into a solar flare. Solar wind is a "stream of energized, charged particles, primarily protons and electrons, flowing outward from the sun." A pattern for solar wind is the expanding and contracting of sun's internal magnetic field.

B) Most of the solar activities have an effect on Earth. One of these effects on Earth is auroras. Auroras are natural light displays in the sky that are also known as the Northern lights because they usually occur at high latitudes. The causes for auroras are solar winds on the sun. As solar winds travel to Earth, they interact with the Earth's magnetic field and create auroras. Also solar activities such as solar flares can disrupt radio and satellite communications. Solar flares can disrupt radio and satellite communications and power grids because they are high energy particles and release radiation that act as an electromagnetic pulse. Theses solar flares never reach the Earth's surface because we are protected by the Earth's magnetic field.

C) Nuclear fusion and other processes in stars have led to the formation of all other chemical elements because of the high temperatures and pressures in the cores of the stars. In order for two nuclei to fuse it takes a large amount of energy to do so even if the element is small like hydrogen.       


Bibliography
http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/n/nuclear_fusion.htm. Science Daily. Nuclear Fusion. 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind. Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia. Solar Wind. 23 May 2013.


 
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http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/images/solar_flares_h-3.jpg



http://www.klimadebat.dk/forum/vedhaeftninger/butterfly2.jpg

The Earth in Space

A) Earth's solar system is located in the Milky Way Galaxy. Our solar system in the Milky Way galaxy is located on the outer edge of the galaxy. The size of our galaxy is about 80,000-120,000 light years across but only 7,000 light years thick. For our solar system to complete one cycle/orbit around the Milky Way it takes about 200-250 million years while we are moving about 155 miles per second. "The universe is made up of voids and filaments, which can be broken down into super clusters, clusters, galaxy groups, and subsequently into galaxies." The age of the universe is about 13.7 billion years ago. The way we know that the universe was formed about 13.7 billion years ago was because of background radiation.

B) The definition of the Big Bang Theory is a theory that the universe originated sometime between 10 and 20 billion years ago from the cataclysmic explosion of a small volume of matter at an extremely high density and temperature. It is said that the universe was "significantly smaller than a pore on your skin" and has been increasingly expanding. As the universe expanded, clumps of matter would come together due to gravitaional attraction to form stars and galaxies.

C) The way we can tell the age of the universe is by cosmic microwave background. Cosmic microwave background is photons that have cooled as the universe has expanded and have stopped interacting. The Doppler Effect tells us that when sound moves it makes a different frequency when it's moving toward us and away from us. This has the same effect on light. By determining different frequencies on the cosmic microwave background we are able to tell if an object is moving toward us or moving away from us. The way we determine the different frequencies of light is because they show up as different colors.

Bibliography
http://www.learner.org/courses/physics/glossary/definition.html?invariant=cmb. Learner. Cosmic Microwave Background. 2010.
http://lcogt.net/education/article/milky-way-galaxy. Las Cumbres Observatory. The Milky Way Galaxy. 2012.




http://mail.colonial.net/~hkaiter/astronomyimagesB/milky_way.jpg



http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/CMB_Timeline300_no_WMAP.jpg/600px-CMB_Timeline300_no_WMAP.jpg



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