Author:         Maral DerSarkissian

Affiliation:   Crescenta Valley High School

Category:    Earth and Space Sciences

Purpose

The title of my project is "The Effect of Solar Activity on Earth’s Magnetic Field." I will be building and using a magnetometer to observe changes in the Earth’s magnetic field. I will track the degree ad time of solar activity that occurs during a week. Then by correlating the times of change in the magnetic field to the occurring solar activity, I can determine the connection between them. My independent variable is the degree of solar activity. My dependent variable is the change in the Earth’s magnetic field, which will be discovered by observing the changes in the position of the reflected laser beam of the magnetometer.

I chose this project because I have always been interested in astronomy and felt that this would be a good opportunity to explore my interests while simultaneously gaining knowledge. I also wanted to learn more about solar activity and how it relates to Earth’s magnetic field. I am also curious as to why cellular phones and pagers don’t work when there are solar flares and how Earth’s magnetic field is altered. Completing this project will help me learn the reasons behind this.

Hypothesis

After researching, I hypothesize that there will be greater amounts of change in the magnetic field as the amount of solar activity increases. I predict this, because I have found various magnetometers, compared its data to that of the day’s solar activity, and learned about the relationships that exist between them. I have correlated changes in the Earth’s magnetic field to increased degrees of solar activity.

Review of Literature

My project is in the field of astronomy. Astronomy is the study of the universe and everything in it. It is considered to be the oldest science, dating back thousands of years. Astronomers develop theories about stars, galaxies, planets and the solar systems through research and careful observations. They use many tools, such as telescopes, spectrographs and cameras.

The sun, a massive ball of glowing gas, is at the center of the solar system. It is a second-generation star, meaning it is made from heavy elements, such as hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon, which came from the explosion of stars in space. It is the closest star to Earth. The sun provides Earth with heat and light energy through nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is a process in which two atoms make a heavier atom. Without the sun’s energy, there would be no life on Earth. The sun’s gravitational pull also holds all the planets in the solar system in place. An atmosphere that stretches past Earth surrounds the sun. It is organized into three main parts: the innermost level is the photosphere, the outermost level is the corona, and the chromosphere lies between them.

The circle we see when viewing the sun or pictures of it is the photosphere. In the photosphere, there are areas with magnetic fields that are much stronger than that of Earth’s. These areas are called sunspots. They are considered to be dark compared to their surroundings.

The corona extends to Earth and past it. Solar winds originate in the corona. Solar wind is an extremely hot stream of charged particles that flows through the solar system. "It is expanding outward in all directions, filling the solar system with a ceaseless flow of electrons, ions, and magnetic fields." (Encarta.com)

The Sun rotates as it emits the solar wind, so the solar wind spirals around the solar system. The solar wind carries the Sun's magnetic field with it and sets up a spiral magnetic field throughout the solar system. The solar wind and its magnetic field affect the magnetic fields of the planets, the direction of the tails of comets, and even the flight paths of spacecraft. (Encarta.com)

Solar winds blow against comets and form their tails. The magnetic field of solar winds creates the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), since the magnetic field lines are dragged out by the solar wind.

Even though the IMF is quite week, it affects the Earth’s magnetic field in tremendous ways. Charged particles usually have to follow the path of the magnetic field lines. Yet, when charged particles flow with great energy and intensity, with solar wind, they can alter the magnetic fields lines. When their flow is deflected, though, the magnetic field takes different shapes to be able to deflect their movement. The same happens to Earth’s magnetic fields. This is how magnetic fields are disrupted by solar winds.

Solar flares are explosions on the surface of the sun. They occur in areas where the sun’s magnetic field is highly intense. During the explosions, solar flares release great amounts of magnetic tension that builds up over time. With this explosion, a tremendous amount of energy is released (in many forms). This energy can be compared to energy produced by billions of hydrogen bombs. Radiation, electrons and ions are also released along with the energy. Solar flares reach the corona and sometimes, even further, depending on the magnitude of the flare.

Solar flares can have great impacts on the Earth. Solar particles and atmospheric gases interact, producing auroras. Radiation and particles released from the flare interfere with earth’s magnetic field. The radiation and ions prevent the movement of radio waves. Therefore, communication and navigation satellites and radios are interrupted during solar flares. Also, they can cause blackouts by producing electrical currents in power lines.

One can view earth as a dipole magnet. Every magnet has a magnetic field, which has strength and direction. Earth has a magnetic field too. It is called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere contains electrically charged particles. Earth’s magnetic field lines spread out from one pole to the other, forming a semicircle. However, solar wind pushes against the magnetic field on side of earth facing the sun, compressing it, and allows the other side of the magnetic field to spread out across space, forming a tail, like that of a comet’s.

Sometimes, earth experiences magnetic storms and magnetic substorms, disturbances in the magnetic field. Magnetic storms are rare and usually accompanied by auroras. Magnetic substorms occur more frequently than magnetic storms. Both disturb the magnetic field. When the magnetic field is disturbed, cellular phones, pagers and radios are also disturbed.

Magnetic fields are observed in specific observatories called magnetic observatories with magnetometers.

If I had the opportunity to further improve my project, I would try to obtain a scientific VCR that would enable me to view the extreme activity occurring on March 26 frame by frame and study it in detail. I would also like to conduct this experiment towards the end of the solar cycle, and compare the data I get at that time to the data I have, since we are in the beginning of the solar cycle now.

Materials List

• 2 rare earth magnets with a 5 mm diameter
• 4 donut shaped magnets with a 28 mm diameter
• 1 quartz fiber 30 cm long with a width of 25 microns
• 3 glass strips 15 cm by 5 cm
• 8 glass strips 5 cm by 1 cm
• 2 mirrors 1.5 mm by 1.5 mm
• 1 roll electrical tape
• 1 tube silicone cement
• 1 tube epoxy
• 1 HeNe laser
• 1 Target
• 1 penny minted before 1982

A. Building the Apparatus

1. Obtain materials needed to make apparatus.
2. Use silicone cement to glue pairs of 5 cm by 1 cm glass strips together.
3. Glue one pair of the small glass strips to the top and bottom of two longer glass strips. The smaller pieces will serve as spacers between the longer strips.
4. Cover the small glass strips glued to one of the two long glass strips (the horizontal spacers) with electrical tape.
5. Lay the quartz fiber over the center of the spacers covered with black electrical tape.
6. Put a dab of epoxy on one end of the quartz fiber to the top of the spacer. Wait for five minutes and then use electrical tape to lock the fiber in place.
7. Smear some silicone cement to a side of one rare earth magnet. Center and glue the rare earth magnets to the quartz fiber. Note: The easiest way to do this is to hold both magnets side by side and bring them together so that they completely overlap one another.
8. Center and glue the mirrors to the fiber, making sure that they are touching the rare earth magnets. These mirrors will act as reflectors.
9. Attach four nickels to the end of the fiber. Letting them dangle, use epoxy to glue the fiber to the center of the bottom spacer. After the glue has set, cover the spacer with another piece of tape, and cut off the excess fiber.
10. Glue a solid copper penny (minted before 1982) to the glass wall behind the magnets and mirrors. This will dampen the oscillations of the magnets and make the magnetometer easier to read.
11. Glue the second long strip of glass with the horizontal spacers to the first one.
12. Use electrical tape to seal off the sides between the two glass walls, keeping out air currents.
13. Attach the four doughnut shaped magnets to the third long strip of glass making sure their center aligns with the rare earth magnets. They should always be placed 30 cm away from the magnetometer. They will act as nulling magnets. Note: Small clamps are needed to hold the doughnut magnets together when gluing them in place.
14. Plug in the HeNe laser and so that the beam bounces off the mirror and is reflected onto a wall.

1. Set up a camcorder with a tape that has the recording capacity of 2 hours.
2. Make a target like object by drawing various circles inside one another, whose radii increase by.5 cm with each circle. The center of the targetis marked with a dot, which is encircled by a circle with radii .5 cm, which is encircled by a circle with radius 1 cm, which is encircled by a circle with radius 1.5 cm, and so on. The outermost circle should have a radius of 11 cm.
3. Place the magnetometer and nulling magnets on a surface. Plug in the laser and shine it on the mirror so that its beam hits the center point on the target.
4. Point the camcorder at the target and record the movement of the laser beam for 24 hours a day, replacing the tapes every two hours (12 times a day).

Results

March 24, 2002

March 25, 2002

 

March 26, 2002

**A lot of high frequency activity occured between 1:52 PM and 1:54 PM**

March 27, 2002

 March 28, 2002
 

Graphs

Conclusion

My results do support my hypothesis. Through my experiment and research, I found that as the degree of the solar activity increased, there were more changes/ fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field. Also, steady changes in the position of the laser beam were observed everyday. Yet the greatest amount of fluctuation in the magnetic field was recorded on March 26 between 1:52 and 1:54 PM. I was able to correlate this movement with solar activity from my research.

When there is solar wind or when solar flares occur, they send charged particles flying through space at very high speeds. When these particles reach Earth’s magnetosphere, their own magnetic fields interact with and cause changes in Earth’s magnetic field. Also, Earth’s magnetic field protects us from solar wind by deflecting it. Sometimes, the sun’s magnetic field also interferes with the Earth’s through the interplanetary magnetic field.

Bibliography

"Astronomy," The New Book of Knowledge. 3/24/02.

Abetti, Giorgio. The Sun. New York: The Macmillian Company, 1957.

Encarta.com

Friedman, Herbert. Sun and Earth. New York: Scientific American Books, Inc., 1986.

Livingston, James D. Driving Force: The Natural Magic of Magnets. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996.

Smith, Elske V.P. and Smith, Henry J. Solar Flares. New York: The Macmillian Company, 1963.

Verschuur, Gerrit L. Hidden Attraction: The Mystery and History of Magnetism. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1993.

Wentzel, Donat G. The Restless Sun. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institute Press, 1989.

Xtrsystems.com

maj.com

Sciam.com

image.gsfc.nasa.gov
 
 

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my parents and advisor for their continuous support throughout the project period. I would especially like to thank my mother for taking me to my advisor’s house to work on and conduct the experiments and proofreading my papers.

I also thank my advisor Dr. Injeyan for giving me ideas and tips on how to perfect my project. Thank you for all your time and help, Dr. Injeyan.   

I thank my science teacher, Ms. Pogroszewski, for all her help and my friends for encouraging me when I was frustrated.