Category Archives: SolarSystem

Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire

Posted on March 16, 2014 by colepospisil

The Sun is often referred to as a great big ball of burning gas, perhaps most famously by Pumbaa in Disney’s The Lion King. This is actually a misconception because the hydrogen in the Sun does not burn, but rather emits energy through the process of nuclear fusion. If the Sun was really burning, then […] Continue reading →

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The Prodigious Sun

Posted on March 16, 2014 by thegarrettnondorf

Is the Sun an efficient producer of energy via nuclear fusion? While humanity may be years away from commercializing nuclear fusion power, the Sun has been doing it for a while now (and for free!). The Sun is the most efficient generator of nuclear power in our solar system. Inside the Sun, nuclear reactions are … Continue reading The Prodigious Sun → Continue reading →

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The “Mars One” Project has 200,000 Applicants

Posted on March 13, 2014 by waldentb

Over 200,000 people have applied for a one way trip to Mars to live out their lives. Does this say …

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Biggest Solar Flare of 2014

Posted on March 12, 2014 by philipapelles

In late February, the Sun let of the largest solar flare of the new year. Classified as a X4.9 solar flare, it was one of the strongest not only of this year but also in recent years. The flare was released with a huge coronal mass ejection ejecting clouds of electrons and atoms. X-class solar… Continue reading →

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The Sun is Not On Fire

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Chad F

In the video above, it may seem that the sun is a boiling ball of fire.  Fires provide us light and heat similar to our sun, so it makes sense that people would think that the sun actually is a ball of fire.  However, fire requires a chemical to be burned.  The sun is made up […] Continue reading →

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Solar Flares cause magnetic storm on Earth

Posted on February 17, 2014 by blakestar2k14

On February 16th 2014, solar flares from the sun are believed to have been strong enough to cause magnetic storms on out planet, Earth. This was due to the size of the solar flares, the flares were so long that they actually reached the Earths magnetic field around it. Namig Jalilov told APA that the […] Continue reading →

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The Moon’s Effects on the Ocean

Posted on February 17, 2014 by kaswat

Generally, if you’ve ever been on the ocean, you understand the concept of tides. You put your umbrella and chair up at noon near the edge of the ocean and you fall asleep and you wake up a few hours later in the middle of the waves. You didn’t move, so the ocean had to… Continue reading →

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Tides

Posted on February 17, 2014 by karapetros

This video is a cool, informative, easy understand animation of how the gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon affect tides. It clearly and concisely describes how tidal forces cause high tides twice per day even though the moon is only overhead once per day and why the gravity is weaker at a greater … Continue reading Tides → Continue reading →

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Blog Post #3: Defying Gravity

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Lauren

It always blew my mind that despite the vastness of the universe, there was a central force that centered it all.  Just thinking about how far away the sun is from the earth, but how a certain force (gravity) can still pull the two together past the distance to create an orbit and a revolution […] Continue reading →

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Tides

Posted on February 16, 2014 by katiew

Many people know that tides rise and fall as a result of the Moon, but often times people are unaware that the Sun also exerts a tidal force on the Earth. Tides are caused by gravitational force, which depends on the mass of the objects pulling on each other and the distance between them. The […] Continue reading →

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