Hi
everyone, today I will show you a wonder of nature, an unique phenomenon. I’m talking about the northern lights. This is
something that fascinates many people, and I’m one of
them.
The
northern lights are the result of collisions between gaseous particles in the
Earth's atmosphere with charged particles released from the sun's atmosphere.
The
sun has a powerful magnetic field and is continuously emitting solar wind
particles at speeds between 1 million and 3 million kilometers per hour. Some
of these particles get sucked up into the Earth's magnetic field. When this happens
the particles "excite" the gases in the Earth's atmosphere causing
the lights that we see in the sky. Variations in colour are due to the type of
gas particles that are colliding and the intensity of the lights depends on the
amount of solar wind coming into the atmosphere.
In
the northern hemisphere, places that are closest to the North Pole such as
Alaska, Norway, Scotland, and northern Russia experience this phenomenon on
almost every clear night.
The night sky is filled with mysterious green, yellow, blue, violet, pink and red
lights. They also vary in form, from rays that appear to wave in the sky to
arcs that go across the horizon. Sometimes the northern lights appear as a hazy
veil.
They generate about 9 billion kilowatt hours of power a year; that
is about ten times the amount of power that the United States uses in one year.
So, it would be remarkable if scientists could somehow tap into this power
supply for human use, what would solve some major environmental problems
regarding current means of producing power.
I'd love to see them live, because they are incredibly beautiful.
This is one of my dreams and I really hope I can make it
come true in the near future.
Andreia Codeço
