15
The rate of loss of mass from a comet is perhaps surprisingly low. A paper The calculation of $Af\rho$ and mass loss rate for comets gives a rate for a "typical" comet at 1.29AU as 153kg/s. A typical comet has a mass of about $10^{13}kg$. Even if the comet is constantly active (and they are not) it would have enough material for over 2000 years.
In fact ...
13
The solar neutrino luminosity is about 2.3% of its electromagnetic luminosity (i.e. light). So the extra mass lost in the form of neutrino energy is 2.3% of your original calculation.
The average mass loss in the form of a wind and coronal mass ejections is about $4\times 10^{16}$ kg/year, but varies with the solar cycle (and from cycle to cycle) (Mishra et ...
10
You are right about the kinetic energy (ie the fast motion) of the particles being the reason, but wrong when you say
They must be of almost the same energy if so there will be no relative kinetic energy,
The individual particles are moving fast, but there is huge variation between them in just how fast and in what direction. In other words, the solar ...
10
Here is a way of getting a rough upper bound: the density $\rho$ of the solar wind is about 4 atoms per cm$^3$ (that we can assume are hydrogen), and it travels at $v=400-500$ km/s. That means that were the Earth to catch every atom directed at it it would gain $\pi R_\oplus^2 \rho v$ atoms per second, $2.0$ to $2.5\cdot10^{14}$. Which gives us a mass flow ...
8
We have very good data on the heavy metals in the solar wind from the Charge, Element, Isotope Analysis System (CELIAS) on SOHO:
Some of these elements were previously known; others were observed for the first time. The new ones are phosphorus, chlorine, potassium, titanium, chromium, and nickel. They were detected in smaller amounts than, say, carbon, ...
8
When plasma moves in a magnetic field then the charged particles follow helical paths around the field lines, due to the $q\vec{v}\times \vec{B}$ Lorentz force. If the radius of gyration is small, then the plasma is effectively tied (or frozen) to the field lines.
However to decide whether it is the motion of the magnetic field that enforces motion of the ...
7
Prelude
It is now generally accepted in the planet formation community that planets form as a side-product of the star formation process in so-called protoplanetary discs.
Protoplanetary discs have initial masses of few to tens of percent of their stellar host masses, are relatively cold (T<150K in about 95% or more of their mass, which is outside the ...
answered Jan 5 '21 at 0:03
AtmosphericPrisonEscape
8,8241 gold badge26 silver badges38 bronze badges
7
It depends on which region you consider. The lower corona has a plasma number density of the order of $10^9 cm^{-3}$, the upper corona about $10^5 cm^{-3}$. This is all quite variable though, depending for instance on the solar activity.
Theoretically, the corona is still quite poorly understood, so its physical parameters can generally only be estimated ...
6
Technically, yes, the moon does have an atmosphere that gets ionized by the sun.
NASA: Is There an Atmosphere on the Moon?
our moon does indeed have an atmosphere consisting of some unusual gases, including sodium and potassium, which are not found in the atmospheres of Earth, Mars or Venus. It's an infinitesimal amount of air when compared to Earth's ...
6
$$\left( \frac{4 \pi (6.96e10\,\text{cm})^{2}}{1} \right)$$
This is the primary source of your error. Your value of 6.96×1010 cm is the radius of the Sun. The problem specifically said "Assuming at the Earth ...". You need to calculate the flux through the surface of a sphere whose radius is about one astronomical unit rather than one solar radius. The ...
6
Some of the comments here seem to be suggesting that there should not be any residual charge of the Sun at all because of the fact that in a conducting medium no electric fields can exist. This argument ignores the crucial point here, namely that there are unequal numbers of positive and negative charges, because electrons, unlike ions, can easily escape ...
5
The Sun erodes a planetary atmosphere through its solar wind. Presently, the solar wind passes Earth at 250-750 kps, which is roughly ten times the Sun's escape velocity from earth orbit. So atoms and molecules of gas eroded by the solar wind are carried right out of the Solar System into the beginnings of interstellar space.
At that point (ca. 100 AU) ...
5
The velocity and the density are at the earth position, so the area term must include the earth-sun distance instead of the solar radius.
5
Okay we can state it as follow:
Solar Radiation:
It is the radiation from the sun which includes all wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation coming from the sun.
Solar Wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles (a plasma) released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons.
And I can simplify it as like ...
4
First of all *not to consider me a conspiracy theorist(, but isn't landing on the moon a questionable issue?
Only to conspiracy theorists. To everyone else, no, it's not a questionable issue. My father in law helped send men to the Moon. I have worked with a number of people who sent men to the Moon. I was once called on the carpet in Gene Kranz's office. I ...
4
What are the velocity, mass, and charge distribution of the solar wind.
Velocity
The solar wind speed has a large range of variation, between ~250–820 km/s [e.g., Chen et al., 2014; Gopalswamy, 2006; Jian et al., 2011, 2014; Kasper et al., 2012; Maksimovic et al., 1998; Marsch, 1983; McComas et al., 2013; Schwenn, 1983; Stverak et al., 2008, 2009] near the ...
4
No. The magnetic field has two poles, the force on the two pole of the magnet is equal and opposite. This is why a compass needle will align in the North South direction, but is not pulled towards the North or the South.
Two magnets will attract or each other because the North pole of one is nearer the South pole of the other. You can get a net force on a ...
4
At the moment, the Solar System is inside the Local Interstellar Cloud (which is itself within the Local Bubble). The LIC has a neutral hydrogen number density of $\sim0.1\text{ cm}^{-3}$, which is a bit lower than the mean galactic neutral hydrogen number density. The Local Bubble itself is less dense than the LIC, by about one or two orders of magnitude. ...
4
Sort of, via radiation pressure and heating.
The Sun emits photons, which carry with them energy and momentum. Any flux of photons applies pressure to an object it hits; this is the basic principle behind solar sails. In general, the larger the object, the more force it feels, since pressure is force per unit area. There are two main ways light from the Sun ...
4
Remember that a magnetic field is just that: a field . There's no mass there. Its shape depends on the electromagnetic properties of Earth -- primarily the behavior of the outer core.
When there's a significant Solar ejection, the electrically active particles in that mass cause local changes in the magnetic field pattern (equivalent to isobars , or ...
4
Expanding on @Steve Lintons answer:
In physics no quantity is just large, a quantity can only be large relative to some other quantity.
So here we want to compare the kinetic energy to something, and that must be the binding energy of i.e. a hydrogen atom. The binding energy of the hydrogen atom is 13.6 eV. And this is much smaller than the keV energies ...
answered Oct 19 '19 at 17:39
AtmosphericPrisonEscape
8,8241 gold badge26 silver badges38 bronze badges
4
Yes and no. The question @JohnRennie links to in his comment Analogy between magnetic bottle and Van Allen's radiation belt contains a lot of relevant information, but packaged as an answer to this question.
The question correctly concludes that, at least in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field, particles will travel in circles, and those circles ...
4
Cosmic radiation (which consists of high-energy protons and atomic nuclei) comes from the sun, other stars, even other galaxies.
Solar wind is a part of that - the part coming from the sun, which mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between 0.5 and 10 keV
4
From going through the literature the paper by Wang et al. 2021 is citing, I am nearly certain that the term "Earth wind" must be a recent invention, perhaps by those authors themselves.
It is however correct to call the solar wind a 'wind'. This is because a wind is a pressure-driven bulk motion of a collectively coupled gas. The solar wind, at ...
answered Feb 15 '21 at 15:29
AtmosphericPrisonEscape
8,8241 gold badge26 silver badges38 bronze badges
4
The WISPR instrument is a visible light imager. You're right that it doesn't have a narrow depth of focus; it is basically focused at infinity. The video says we are seeing streams of plasma. The actual structures of these streamers are roughly parallel tubes projecting outward from the Sun, like a handful of dry spaghetti. We are seeing visible sunlight, ...
3
There is no difference in the number of cosmic particles.
You seem to imagine that there are static clouds of gas in the universe that the sun is moving through. This is not the case. The gas in the galaxy is orbiting at roughly the same speed as the sun.
The sun does have some proper motion relative to the interstellar medium, but the interstellar medium ...
3
Conservation of mass?
In a steady-state wind, the mass loss rate through each shell is the same.
$$ \frac{dM}{dt} = - 4\pi r^2 \rho(r) v(r),$$
where $\rho$ and $v$ would be the density and velocity of a spherically symmetric wind, with a fixed mass-loss rate $\dot{M}$.
Thus for a fixed wind speed you expect the density to fall as the square of the radius ...
3
If you want to trigger outflows, there are two main processes that can help:
magnetic field;
radiation pressure.
Magnetic fields is well-suited to launch such outflows, through magneto-centrifugal effects. Basically, if there is magnetic fields tighed to the disk surrounding the protostar and the angle between the field lines and the disk is right, a ...
3
A major factor, is that Venus' volcanoes are still active. Mars's died millions of years ago. If they were still erupting, then Mars' atmosphere would be much thicker today.
Edit: This may actually be true as referenced by a paper published July 20 2020 cited below.
Gülcher, A.J.P., Gerya, T.V., Montési, L.G.J. et al. Corona structures driven by plume–...
3
Would a large coronal mass ejection affect the earth evenley
No, the effects on Earth from a large coronal mass ejection (CME) would disproportionately affect higher geographic latitudes in the form of ground induced currents. The side facing the Sun, called the dayside, would also suffer more spacecraft anomalies from solar energetic particles (SEPs). ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible