Big Idea 3.1 Intermediate Level Guiding Question
Intermediate Level Guiding Question
How do the magnetic fields of the Sun compare to the magnetic field of the Earth?
Big Idea 3.1How do the magnetic fields of the Sun compare to the magnetic field of the Earth?
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Educator Background
Many objects in the universe have magnetic fields. The Sun's magnetic field is created by the churning plasma below the Sun's surface, whereas the Earth's magnetic field is created by the spinning molten iron core of Earth. While both the Sun's and Earth's magnetic fields fluctuate and their magnetic poles flip, Earth's poles flip on the timescale of hundreds of thousands of years; the Sun's poles flip on the timescale of a decade, approximately eleven years.
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Learning Constraints
At this level students learn about the properties of the layers of the Earth (MS-ESS2-1) and can identify plasma as a state of matter (MS-PS1-4) and the properties of electromagnetic fields (MS-PS2-5).
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Connect to Heliophysics
Connect to the Sun by focusing on how the Sun's magnetic field is very different from Earth's magnetic field. Because the Sun's poles flip so often, the magnetic fields of the Sun get tangled up and eventually snap and reconnect, creating enormous amounts of energy, which can cause solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME). Even when the Sun's magnetic fields are relatively stable, the Sun's hot plasma is always outputting solar wind, which is also made of plasma. The solar wind intensifies with solar flares and CMEs, and transports some of the Sun’s magnetic field out into the solar system.
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Extend Exploration
Extend students' exploration by pointing out that auroras occur when Earth's magnetic field is disturbed (snapped and reconnected) when intense solar storms hit Earth. While magnetic reconnection on the Sun produces solar flares, reconnection in Earth’s magnetic field produce aurora.
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Differentiate for Beginner Learners
Support beginner students by reviewing how particle motion affects states of matter (5-PS2-5).
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Differentiate for More Advanced Learners
Challenge students at the next level by having them investigate the electromagnetic properties of plasma. Plasmas are electrically charged and because they move through space they produce a current. Just like the current flowing in a wire, a flowing plasma produces magnetic fields.
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Heliophysics Resource Database
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