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How do solar winds create X-Rays?
What are the nuclear reactions that create X-Rays between the interaction between the electromagnetic field and the cosmic winds?
Show how scientist calculate the amount of X-Rays being produced and why they will not affect a person on earth.
Show how scientist calculate the amount of X-Rays being produced and why they will not affect a person on earth.
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First, the X-rays you are referring to are not produced by nuclear reactions.
Part of the solar wind is made up of heavy element ions. When these heavy ions hit a neutral atom or neutral molecule in interstellar space or at the top of Earth's atmosphere, they create X-rays. This process is called charge exchange. It involves the heavy ion taking an electron away from the neutral atom or molecule; the heavy ion is left in an excited electronic state. When the heavy ion relaxes back down to ground state, it emits a photon of extreme UV or X-ray energy.
For example, a 7+ oxygen ion and a neutral atom/molecule M:
O^7+ + M -> O^6+*(excited state) + M^+
This process creates a diffuse X-ray glow in Earth's upper atmosphere, in other sources of neutral gases, and in the very thin gas throughout the solar system. These and other X-rays are observed with instruments above the Earth's atmosphere. This is called X-Ray Astronomy.
X-rays get absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so people on Earth are fine.
Part of the solar wind is made up of heavy element ions. When these heavy ions hit a neutral atom or neutral molecule in interstellar space or at the top of Earth's atmosphere, they create X-rays. This process is called charge exchange. It involves the heavy ion taking an electron away from the neutral atom or molecule; the heavy ion is left in an excited electronic state. When the heavy ion relaxes back down to ground state, it emits a photon of extreme UV or X-ray energy.
For example, a 7+ oxygen ion and a neutral atom/molecule M:
O^7+ + M -> O^6+*(excited state) + M^+
This process creates a diffuse X-ray glow in Earth's upper atmosphere, in other sources of neutral gases, and in the very thin gas throughout the solar system. These and other X-rays are observed with instruments above the Earth's atmosphere. This is called X-Ray Astronomy.
X-rays get absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere, so people on Earth are fine.
source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/hea/sss/swx.html
http://www2.ku.edu/~kuspace/xray/outer-helio/Ina-AIP04.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_astronomy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/hea/sss/swx.html
http://www2.ku.edu/~kuspace/xray/outer-helio/Ina-AIP04.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_astronomy
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Thanks for the clarification. I did previous read many of the same articles you quoted.
My thoughts were, if the x-ray emission levels could be predicted and modeled. The model would demonstrate whether X-Rays were hitting the earth.
My thoughts were, if the x-ray emission levels could be predicted and modeled. The model would demonstrate whether X-Rays were hitting the earth.
The X-rays we detect from the Sun actually come from the solar corona, not the solar wind.
"Quote from imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov"
---Quote---
The Sun has a surface temperature of approximately 6000 Kelvin. The solar surface emits most of its electromagnetic radiation in the "visible spectrum", or the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum we can see with our eyes. A 6000 K Sun should be an extraordinarily weak source of X-rays. However, we have known since the 1940s that the Sun is, in fact, a very strong X-ray emitter. So what is going on here?
The X-rays we detect from the Sun actually come from the solar corona, not the solar surface. The corona, the upper layer of the Sun's atmosphere, is very, very hot (over a million degrees!). Thus, it is an excellent source of X-rays.
Only very hot gases can emit X-rays. The Sun's atmosphere, at millions of degrees, is hot enough to emit X-rays, while the much cooler surface of the Sun is not.
---Quote---
"Quote from imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov"
---Quote---
The Sun has a surface temperature of approximately 6000 Kelvin. The solar surface emits most of its electromagnetic radiation in the "visible spectrum", or the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum we can see with our eyes. A 6000 K Sun should be an extraordinarily weak source of X-rays. However, we have known since the 1940s that the Sun is, in fact, a very strong X-ray emitter. So what is going on here?
The X-rays we detect from the Sun actually come from the solar corona, not the solar surface. The corona, the upper layer of the Sun's atmosphere, is very, very hot (over a million degrees!). Thus, it is an excellent source of X-rays.
Only very hot gases can emit X-rays. The Sun's atmosphere, at millions of degrees, is hot enough to emit X-rays, while the much cooler surface of the Sun is not.
---Quote---
Your explaining the results.
Explain how the sun's photons create an X-Ray emission.
Explain how the sun's photons create an X-Ray emission.
The upper half of the sun consists of three major areas: the core, the radiative zone and the convective zone.
The core starts from the center and extends to 25 percent of the sun's radius. Here, gravity pulls all of the mass inward and creates an intense pressure. The pressure is high enough to force atoms of hydrogen to come together in nuclear fusion reactions. Two atoms of hydrogen are combined to create helium-4 and energy. These reactions account for 85 percent of the sun's energy.
The helium-4 atoms are less massive than the two hydrogen atoms that started the process, so the difference in mass was converted to energy as described by Einstein's theory of relativity (E=mc2). The energy is emitted in various forms of light (ultraviolet light, X-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves and radio waves). The sun also emits energized particles (neutrinos, protons) that make up the solar wind.
http://www.nr6ca.org/sun.html
Since the Sun has extremely high energy electrons, as well as strong magnetic fields, it is a source of natural x-rays (by the same synchrotron x-ray generation effect used in laboratories). The energy of those x-rays is greatly diminished by the time they get to the Earth.
In synchrotron radiation, electrons emit x-rays while spinning in a magnetic field. When electrons spiral around a magnetic field at high velocities, they give off radiation depending on their velocity. At high enough velocities, the radiation is in the form of x-rays.
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/xray_generation.htm
The core starts from the center and extends to 25 percent of the sun's radius. Here, gravity pulls all of the mass inward and creates an intense pressure. The pressure is high enough to force atoms of hydrogen to come together in nuclear fusion reactions. Two atoms of hydrogen are combined to create helium-4 and energy. These reactions account for 85 percent of the sun's energy.
The helium-4 atoms are less massive than the two hydrogen atoms that started the process, so the difference in mass was converted to energy as described by Einstein's theory of relativity (E=mc2). The energy is emitted in various forms of light (ultraviolet light, X-rays, visible light, infrared, microwaves and radio waves). The sun also emits energized particles (neutrinos, protons) that make up the solar wind.
http://www.nr6ca.org/sun.html
Since the Sun has extremely high energy electrons, as well as strong magnetic fields, it is a source of natural x-rays (by the same synchrotron x-ray generation effect used in laboratories). The energy of those x-rays is greatly diminished by the time they get to the Earth.
In synchrotron radiation, electrons emit x-rays while spinning in a magnetic field. When electrons spiral around a magnetic field at high velocities, they give off radiation depending on their velocity. At high enough velocities, the radiation is in the form of x-rays.
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/xray_generation.htm
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In regard to your modeling question, scientists have tried measure the X-ray background and have used models of the heliosphere to predict the X-ray emissions. Right now, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite is trying to map the heliospheric boundary by "measuring the location and magnitude of charge-exchange collisions..." using energetic neutral atom imagers, not X-rays.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_Boundary_Explorer