An “aurora” is a multi-colored glow in the night sky. Those lucky enough to have seen auroras have described them as a shimmering blankets or streamers of blue-green light with patches of pink and red. Auroras can be more than 100 miles wide and stretch as long as 1,000 miles. In the northern hemisphere, the bands of light are known as “aurora borealis” or the “northern lights.” In the southern hemisphere, they are known as “aurora australis.”
Auroras are caused by activities on the sun. Two “activities” are explosions and solar flares. The explosions and solar flares shoot solar particles from the sun into space (solar particles are parts of atoms, including protons, electrons and ions). These particles join other particles that are sent into space from the very hot gases that makes up the sun’s “corona.” Large amounts of solar particles flying through space are called the “solar wind.” The solar wind may move at speeds as high as 600 miles per second!
Solar particles that approach the earth are attracted by our planet’s strong magnetic field. The earth’s magnetic field guides the solar particles along lines toward the north and south poles where they collide with atoms and gas molecules in the atmosphere. These collisions between the solar particles from the sun and the atoms and gas molecules in the earth’s atmosphere result in changes in energy. Energy is given off in form of light – or as photons. Different types of atoms give off different colors of light. If there are enough collisions and enough light is given off, an aurora will appear in the sky.
If the solar wind travels at a rate of 500 miles per second and the distance between the sun and the earth is 93,000,000 miles, how many hours will it take for the solar wind to travel from the sun to the earth?
Please round your answer to the nearest whole number and use the following formula:
rate x time = distance