Virtual Field Trip Project Terry Gallivan February 1, 2012

INTRODUCTION
View Introduction Video
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Lets Take a Trip to the Sun and Beyond then Back to the Earth

Northern Lights & Solar Flares

Northern Lights

Come on a journey you will never forget. The beauty is breath-taking.

Index
Websites / Activities
A. New Aurora Pictures: Solar Storms Trigger Northern Lights (View Pictures) B. What are the northern lights? (Assignment #1) (Read Article & Answer Slide 7 Questions) C. Saturn's Aurora in a New Light (View Video) D. SDO's View of M8.7 Solar Flare (View Video) E. X-Class: A Guide to Solar Flares (Assignment #2) (View Video & Answer Slide 14 Questions using chart on Slide 15) F. SDO Webcast (View Video make sure to click View Now) G. Your Project Assignment A Man-Made or Natural Phenomenon Virtual Field Trip

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5 6 8

10
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19 22

Northern Lights
We have been given many natural occurrences to experience. The Northern Lights take place in the uppermost hemisphere region of the Earth. They can be seen in the United States from Alaska to Michigan.

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Assignment #1: Northern Lights

1. 2. 3. 4. Can I see them anywhere? Can I see them at any time of the year? What causes the colors and patterns? When was the 1st documented observance of the Northern Lights? Note: Remember to use your words?

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Math & Science Connection

1. Click on the picture: You will need to escape PowerPoint Slide Show and minimize window. If you have problems contact the instructor. 2. Once at the website you will read the information and answer the questions. Check your answers on page 2. Answer the questions on the next slide using the chart on slide 15. 3. If you do not understand see your partner. 4. If you both do not understand see instructor. 5. Once you have answered the problems you will need to re-open PowerPoint Slide Show.

Assignment #2: Solar Flares

1. Construct a pie chart for the X, M and C-class flare data. During this 75-day period, what percentage of flares are X-class? 2. What percentage of sunspots produce X-class flares? 3. What percentage of sunspots did not produce any flares during this time? 4. What seems to be the minimum size for a sunspot that produces an X-class flare? An M-class flare? A C-class flare? 5. If the area of Earth is 169 in the sunspot units used in the above tables, what are the maximum and minimum size of the sunspots compared to the area of Earth?

Date Nov 1 Nov 2

Spot # #696 #696

Area 820 910

Flare C X

Nov 3
Nov 4 Nov 5 Dec 1 Dec 2 Dec 3 Dec 4 Dec 5 Dec 6 Jan 1` Jan 2 Jan 3 Jan 4 Jan 5 Jan 6 Jan 7 Jan 8 Jan 9 Jan 10

#696
#696 #696 #708 #708 #709 #713 #715 #715 #715 #715 #715 #719 #718 #720 #720 #720 #720 #720

650
730 470 130 150 20 150 260 350 220 180 130 100 160 1540 1620 1630 1460 1400

M
X C C X M C X C C M M X M C M C M C

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Your Project Assignment

1. Choose a Partner. 2. Choose a Natural or Man-Made Phenomenon. 3. Create a virtual field trip as the one you just viewed on the Northern Lights. 4. Make sure before turning in - you review the Rubric for this assignment. 5. Any questions check with the instructor. 6. Have fun!

Examples for Projects

Mammoth Cave National Park Sequoia National Park Hawaii Volcanoes National Park Taj Mahal Palace Dachstein Caves Great Barrier Reef Leaning Tower of Pisa Sea of Galilee Red Tides Old Faithful Dead Sea Petrified Forest Western Wall Great Pyramids Niagara Falls

Choose your own with the Instructors approval http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_landmarks

References
Everyday Mysteries 2012 What are Northern Lights?Everyday Mysteries (2012). What are Northern Lights? Retrieved February 1, 2012, from http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/northernlights.html NASA 2012 01.22.12: SDO's View of M8.7 Solar FlareNASA. (2012). 01.22.12: SDO's View of M8.7 Solar Flare [Video podcast]. NASA 2012 Exploring Space MathematicsNASA (2012). Exploring Space Mathematics. Retrieved February 1, 2012, from http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/361710main_SMI_Problem5.pdf NASA 2012 Saturn's Aurora in a New LightNASA. (2012). Saturn's Aurora in a New Light [Video podcast]. NASA 2012 SDO WebcastNASA. (2012). SDO Webcast [Video podcast]. National Geographic Daily News 201202 New Aurora Pictures: Solar Storms Trigger Northern LightsNational Geographic Daily News (2012, February). New Aurora Pictures: Solar Storms Trigger Northern Lights. Retrieved February 1, 2012, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/01/pictures/120125-solar-storm-aurorasnorthern-lights-earth-space-pictures/ Visit Finland 2012 Unbelievable Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in Lapland, FinlandVisit Finland. (2012). Unbelievable Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) in Lapland, Finland [Video podcast]. Retrieved February 1, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc3FxNXjBs0

Answers to Assignment #1: teachers copy only

1. Can I see them anywhere? Yes. Although more frequent at higher latitudes, closer to the poles (such as in Canada, Alaska, Antarctica), they have been seen closer to the equator as far south as Mexico. To view them, look in the direction of the closest pole (the northern horizon in the northern hemisphere, the southern horizon in the southern hemisphere). 2. Can I see them at any time of the year? Yes. In some areas, such as Alaska or Greenland, they may be visible most nights of the year. And they occur at any time of the day, but we cant see them with the naked eye unless its dark.

Answers to Assignment #1: teachers copy only

3. What causes the colors and patterns? Colors and patterns are from the types of ions or atoms being energized as they collide with the atmosphere and are affected by lines of magnetic force. Displays may take many forms, including rippling curtains, pulsating globs, traveling pulses, or steady glows. Altitude affects the colors. Blue violet/reds occur below 60 miles (100 km), with bright green strongest between 60-150 miles (100-240 km). Above 150 miles (240 km) ruby reds appear. When was the 1st documented observance of the Northern Lights? According to Neil Bone (The aurora: sun-earth interactions, 1996), the term aurora borealis--northern dawn--is jointly credited to have first been used by Pierre Gassendi (15921655) and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), who both witnessed a light display on Sept. 12, 1621. However, Bone also includes a description of the northern lights made 1,000 years prior by Gregory of Tours (538-594.) It included the phrase, "... so bright that you might have thought that day was about to dawn."

4.

Answers to Assignment #2: teachers copy only

1.A.

1.B. 5 out of 21 or (5/21)x100% = 24% 2. There are 24 sunspots in the sample because the catalog numbers run from 720 to 698 as stated in the table caption (A reading to be informed activity). There were three sunspots listed in the table that produced X-class flares: #696, #715, #720. The percentage is (3/24)x100% = 12.5% which may be rounded to 13%. 3. There were only 8 sunspots in the table that produced flares, so there were 16 out of 24 that did not produce any flares. This is (16/24)x100% = 67%. An important thing for students to note is that MOST sunspots do not produce any significant flares.

Answers to Assignment #2: Continued teachers copy only

4. Students may reasonably answer by saying that there doesnt seem to be any definite correlation for the X and M-class flares! For Xclass flares, you can have them if the area is between 180 and 1620. For M-class flares, spots with areas from 130 to 1630 can have them. The two possibilities overlap. For C-class flares, they seem to be most common in the smaller spots from 20 130 in area, but the sample in the table is so small we cant really tell if this is a genuine correlation or not. Also, we have only shown in the table the largest flares on a given day, and smaller flares may also have occurred for many of these spots. 5. The smallest spot size occurred for #709 with an equivalent size of (20/169)x100% = 11% of Earths area. The largest spot was #720 with a size equal to (1630/169) = 9.6 times Earths area.