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Originally Posted by clifton
Wow, Vlad, you are getting damn good! Well done
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This is the technical explanation: The earth is constantly immersed in the solar wind, a rarefied flow of hot plasma (gas of free electrons and positive ions) emitted by the sun in all directions, a result of the million-degree heat of the sun's outermost layer, the solar corona. The solar wind usually reaches Earth with a velocity around 400 km/s, density around 5 ions/cc and magnetic field intensity around 2–5 nT (nanoteslas; the earth's surface field is typically 30,000–50,000 nT). These are typical values. During magnetic storms, in particular, flows can be several times faster; the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) may also be much stronger. The IMF originates on the sun, related to the field of sunspots, and its field lines (lines of force) are dragged out by the solar wind. That alone would tend to line them up in the sun-earth direction, but the rotation of the sun skews them (at Earth) by about 45 degrees, so that field lines passing Earth may actually start near the western edge ("limb") of the visible sun.[5] The earth's magnetosphere is the space region dominated by its magnetic field. It forms an obstacle in the path of the solar wind, causing it to be diverted around it, at a distance of about 70,000 km (before it reaches that boundary, typically 12,000–15,000 km upstream, a bow shock forms). The width of the magnetospheric obstacle, abreast of Earth, is typically 190,000 km, and on the night side a long "magnetotail" of stretched field lines extends to great distances. When the solar wind is perturbed, it easily transfers energy and material into the magnetosphere. The electrons and ions in the magnetosphere that are thus energized move along the magnetic field lines to the polar regions of the atmosphere. |
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Originally Posted by golddust
Yesss! Vladb has the right answers for both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere!
Congratulations vladb. |
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Originally Posted by clifton
Wow, Vlad, you are getting damn good! Well done
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Originally Posted by adex
Congrat again Vladb,
I just loss several quiz because I have long vacation. |
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Originally Posted by forwardone
What a fantastic Quiz. I struggled with that one.
Vladb very well done, again. |
| 10/18/2007 13:06 Payment Received 8587XXXX Gold +0.006544 38XXXXX 5.00 USD 764.10 From: Guaranteed Memo: Web-life trivia winner |
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Originally Posted by vladb
Thanks, golddust! This is my third correct answer here!
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Originally Posted by Pete Berg
Sorry sir i amnot able to answer this question and i am also confused about it.and i wasted my loyt of time.
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