van der Schijff 1 Christian van der Schijff F Period Honors Physics January 30 2012 Aurora Borealis The

Aurora Borealis, commonly known as the Northern Lights, is defined as a luminous display of various forms and colors seen in the night sky. The northern lights are seen due to a geomagnetic pile in the hemispheres. There are different colors that can be seen due to the electrons contact with the Nitrogen and Oxygen in the air on Earth. They two come into contact and can create green, red, blue and violet visuals in the skies. The color depends on how high in the atmosphere the electrons come into contact with the oxygen or nitrogen. Red and green result from contact with oxygen at around 150 miles above the Earth. Blue and violet/ purple occur due to the contact with nitrogen at around the 60-mile mark. The Aurora Borealis manifests itself through highly charged electrons that come from solar winds coming into contact with the Earths elements. The solar winds come from traveling at 1,000,000mph towards the earth. Depending on the elements that the highly charged electrons interact with, they then create the different colors of the spectacular northern lights. These Northern Lights are only seen in the Aurora Ovals. These ovals are located at the magnetic poles of the Earth, the Artic and Antarctic circles. They can also be seen from Norway, Alaska, Canada, Siberia and parts of the northern United States. The Auroras are most common during the Equinoxes, or the beginning of spring. Rarely, due to sunspots, the Aurora Borealis can be seen in the Southern United States. These sunspots occur every eleven years. This year is the 11th year in the cycle. The Aurora Borealis has been making some headlines lately not only due to the spectacular show in Alaska but also because it is very active this year, which can pose problems to the people. It can disrupt Satellites, which is used by the military as well as civilians in everyday use with GPS. This is because of the strong magnetic fields that come with the Aurora Borealis. This year there has been strong solar storms, which cause an increase in Aurora Borealis. Some are worried that these beautiful lights can severely disrupt everyday life for humans; they can potentially damage some of the technology in Satellites. Sources: Boots, Michelle Theriault. Aurora borealis mesmerizes watchers who toughed Alaskan night Issue: McClatchy Newspapers http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/west/view.bg?articleid=139 8633&format=&page=2&listingType=natwest#articleFull

van der Schijff 2 How does the aurora borealis (the Northern Lights) work? http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climateweather/atmospheric/question471.htm Aurora Borealis: The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/aurora_borealis.aspx