EarthRef.org Digital Archive (ERDA) -- Video of Solar Wind Interacting With Earth's Magnetic Field

Description
The video begins by showing solar wind particles being released by the sun of which there are about 1 million tons of particles being released per second. The solar wind is a plasma comprised of 95% hydrogen (H+) , 4% helium (He++), and 1% minor ions (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, magnesium, silicon, and iron). Plasma is formed when a gas is under extremely high temperatures, giving electrons enough energy to escape from their respective nuclei. The solar wind travels at a velocity ranging from 300-600 km/s on average, eventually approaching the Earth's magnetic field. As the solar wind reaches the magnetic field, the region known as the Bow Shock forces most of the solar wind particles around the magnetic field. The blue lines represent the Earth's magnetic field and it can be seen that the sun facing side is compressed why deflecting the solar wind, while the backside is forced into a tail shape and extends for a much farther distance due to solar wind interaction. The green region represents expelled oxygen ions from the atmosphere and become trapped within a region known as the Van Allen Belts (radiation belts). There are an inner and outer belt that consists of solar plasma, oxygen ions, and energetic protons from solar plasma colliding with atmospheric atoms. The red cloud represents the region where these particles reside (at extremely high temperatures) and the blue area represents the high-speed flow of the particles around the Earth.