In News
- Recently, the scientists from India and the UK have deciphered the physics behind the solar plasma jets through computer simulations and lab experiments.
Major Findings
- The study led by researchers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru performed laboratory experiments
- The scientists observed how paint placed over bass audio speakers ejected as a forest of jets when a certain sound frequency and amplitude (speaker’s loudness) were surpassed.
- They found that the physics underlying paint jets when excited on a speaker is analogous to the solar plasma jets.
What are Solar Jets or Spicules?
- Solar Plasma jets/ Spicules are powerful plasma streams that the Sun’s chromosphere (atmospheric layer above the Sun’s visible surface) constantly eject.
- These jet streams are influenced by the Sun’s gravity, 20 times that of Earth and constantly rise and fall back. Some jets are so energetic that they propel into the solar corona and beyond.
- These jets, or spicules, appear as thin grass-like plasma structures that constantly shoot up from the surface and are then brought down by gravity.
- The amount of energy and momentum that these spicules can carry is of fundamental interest in solar and plasma astrophysics.
- The processes by which plasma is supplied to the solar wind, and the solar atmosphere is heated to a million degrees Celsius, still remain a puzzle.
Image: Structure of Sun
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Plasma: The Fourth State of Matter
Uses of Plasma
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Source:IE
