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NCBA

NATIONAL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND


ARTS DEDICATED TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER | ACADEMIC YEAR 2015-2016

Look around you. What


do you see?
Yep, all you see is
SCIENCE.
In our newsletter, we
show,
explain,
and
answer your baffled
understanding of the
different phenomena,
mys-teries and events
in your surroundings.

Aurora Borealis
display at
Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories
(Photo courtesy of
telegraph.co.uk.)

ON AURORAS: WHAT MAKES THEM HAPPEN?


Here's a story: Imagine there's an invisible force field around our
planet. Now imagine that for billions of years, that force field has
been protecting us from a beam of supercharged plasma that would
wipe out life on Earth as we know it. You might think this is some
kind of science fiction story, but it's all true. And it's what gives us
this: The aurora!

NEW
STUFF

The auroras are one of mankind's oldest mysteries, and we've


come up with some theories of how to explain it along the way. Take
Aristotle, he thought the aurora was the sky vomiting little bits of

IN THE SPOTLIGHT:
CHEMICAL
LAPTOP

NASA has been showing off


what it calls a "chemical
laptop" - a small, portable
laboratory that could be used
in the search for signs of life
on other planets. Buggies
and rovers are fine for getting
across the terrain of alien
worlds, but when some
serious soil analysis needs to
be done, this is the device for
the job. It detects amino acids
and fatty acids - what we
understand to be the tell-tale

PAGE 1

ELECTROMAGNETISM

We
have
electromagnetism to thank
for a lot of different things,
like allowing you to watch
youtube
videos
on
a
computer that is powered
by electricity, and holding
all of the atoms in the
universe
together.
Electromagnetism, as the
name implies, takes two
forms that look totally
different
to us. We have the
A plasma ball, where the alternating
electrostatic
and
the creates
voltageforce
from the
center
magnetic
force, but don't
be
electromagnetic
waves
fooled!
Electricity
and
(Photo courtesy of louisproud.net)

SITIO ILOG PUGAD, BRGY. SAN JUAN TAYTAY, RIZAL

WWW.NCBA.EDU.PH

KNOWING
FAMOUS
SUNSPOT
PERSONS
S:

UNDERSTANDING

THOSE DARK
PATCHES ON
THE SUN

(Photo courtesyUmbra
of darker and cooler part; penumbra lighter and hotter part

STEPHEN
HAWKING
Stephen Hawking is known
for his work regarding black
holes and for authoring
several
popular
science
books. He suffers from
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Stephen Hawking was born
on January 8, 1942, in
Oxford, England. At an early
age, Hawking showed a
passion for science and the
sky. At age 21, while studying
cosmology at the University
of Cambridge, he was
diagnosed with amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis. Despite his
debilitating illness, he has
done groundbreaking work in
physics and cosmology, and
his several books have
helped to make science
accessible to everyone. Part
of his life story was depicted
in the 2014 film The Theory
of Everything.
He is an Honorary Fellow of
the Royal Society of Arts, a
lifetime member of the
Pontifical
Academy
of
Sciences, and a recipient of
the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, the highest civilian
award in the United States.
Hawking was the Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics at
the University of Cambridge
between 1979 and 2009 . and
has achieved commercial

PAGE 2

Our Sun have his own version of pimple: sunspot. And just like a
stubborn pimple it is only temporary.
Sunspots are darker, cooler areas on the surface of the sun in a region
called the photosphere.The photosphere has a temperature of 5,800
degrees Kelvin. Sunspots have temperatures of about 3,800 degrees K.
They look dark only in comparison with the brighter and hotter regions of
the photosphere around them. Sunspots can be very large, up to 50,000
kilometers in diameter. They are caused by interactions with the Sun's
magnetic field which are not yet fully understood. But a sunspot is
somewhat like the cap on a soda bottle: shake it up, and you can generate
a big eruption. Sunspots occur over regions of intense magnetic activity,
and when that energy is released, solar flares and big storms called coronal

ON AURORAS: WHAT MAKES THEM


HAPPEN?
(Continuation.)
But it wasn't until the 1600's that we figured out two key things that
helped us explain the aurora. One, it turns out the Earth is really just a big
magnet, and second, it turns out the sun gives of a lot more than just light.
And the edge of the Sun, the corona, is a busy, beautiful place, full of
churning whirlpools of plasma and huge magnetic arcs. All of that action is
constantly releasing waves of energized particles, creating what we call the
"solar wind". A few days after leaving the Sun, travelling at a whopping 400
kilometers per second, that blast of charged particles reaches Earth.
Fortunately, we've got a secret weapon on our side: Earth's swirling,
molten iron core. Our core is the key to life on Earth. It creates a magnetic
force field around us that deflects that solar wind up and away, making life
down here much more enjoyable. Which means we have nice things like an
atmosphere and we're not burnt-to-a-crisp thanks to wave after wave of
planet-sterilizing radiation. But despite all thatthere IS a tiiiiiny bit of that
solar wind that hops on the magnetic force-field and rides it up or down to
the Earth's poles, and that's where we get the auroras.
When those energized particles smash into gases way up high in our
atmosphere, they
excite them, which means the gas atoms grab on to a bit of energy. But
they don't stay excited for long. They give off that stored energy in a bright
little burst of light called photons. Different atoms in our atmosphere each
give off different colors. Excited oxygen is what gives off that familiar green
and red that most of us think of when we hear "aurora". But there's also
nitrogen up there, and it can give off a really cool mix of red and blue light

SITIO ILOG PUGAD, BRGY. SAN JUAN TAYTAY, RIZAL

WWW.NCBA.EDU.PH

IN THE SPOTLIGHT:

ELECTROMAGNETISM

As you probably know, electromagnetic force acts on objects that have electric charge and
electrostatics, they are described as either being positive or negative. Objects with opposite
charges produce an attractive force between them. Well objects with the same charge produce a
repulsive force. The greater the charge is the greater the force and the greater the distance between
the charged objects the smaller the force. All this was laid nice and simple by french physicist
CHARLES AUGUSTIN DE COULOMB. In what we now today call 'Coulomb's Law'! Coulomb's law is able
to describe how protons in an atomic neucleus which are positive keep negatively charged electrons
from just wandering off. And just like with other fundamental forces of physics there is a special
particle that conveys this force.

Here you've actually heard of the particle called photon. Photons carry the electrostatic force
between the electron and the proton. Photons are the same particle that carry light and heat which is
why electromagnetic force is able to travel at the speed of light. Now electrostatic force is called static
because
it can
build
in an
creating electrostatic
a ton of potential
The same
thing
is up
going
on object
with lightning
force energy that is just dying to move some
place.
builds up in rain clouds as they rub together. Once enough of
electrons are built up in the clouds they need to go some place
same thing
is going
with lightning
electrostatic
that hasThe
a bunch
of protons
to on
neutralize
them so
the atomsforce
in builds up in rain
clouds
as
they
rub
together.
Once
enough
of
electrons
are
built
the air basically serves the path to deliver these built up up in the clouds
they need
to go the
some
place
hasnegatively
a bunch ofcharged
protons source
to neutralize them so the
electrons
through
sky
fromthat
their
atoms
in
the
air
basically
serves
the
path
to
deliver
these
the clouds to their positively charged destination whether itsbuilt
the up electrons
through
the
sky
from
their
negatively
charged
source
the
clouds
ground another cloud or some really unlucky person! So to their
positively
destination
whether its
the ground
electricity
is charged
just a stream
of electrons
trying
to getanother
from acloud or some
really
unlucky
person!
So
electricity
is
just
a
stream
of
electrons
negative place to a positive place. Isn't that what we're all trying trying to get from
a negative
a positive
Isn't
thatelectricity
what we'restarts
all trying to do really?!
to do
really?! place
The tocrazy
thingplace.
is that
once
The crazy thing is that once electricity starts flowing like this it creates a magnetic
Magnetic force is responsible for how a magnets work. But even though the effects of
electrostatic and magnetic force look very different to us, they are in fact one and the same.
Remember that electromagnetism acts on an object that have electric charge. This charge creates a
field around an object, but a magnetic field is a little different from an electrostatic field. For starters,
unlike a charged particle which can be neither positive nor negative, a magnetic field has both a
positive and negative area which we call north and south pole. Magnets always have both poles no
matter how many time you cut them to little pieces. But magnetic poles arent very much like single
pole charged particles. The same poles An
repel
each other and
and magnetism
the oppositeare
poles
attract.
electrostatic
in fact
the And just like
with electrostatic force (because its the
same of
force)
force isYou
carried
effects
themagnetic
same force.
can between
create objects by
photons.
magnetism using electricity. An electromagnet
generates a magnetic field using electricity. And
hey, you know what else is an electromagnet?
Youre living on one! The constant churning of the
molten iron on the Earths outer core create
electrical currents and those currents generates
Earth magnetic field, which turns out to be very
useful, as it helps navigation and of course,
preventing us from burning to a crisp from the

And to prove that they are the effects of the same force, you can also create an electric current
using a changing pattern of magnetism. If you put a coil of wire within a magnetic field in
continuously spin the wire or the magnet so that the magnetic field inside the wire fluctuates,
electricity will flow through the wire, and it is really exciting because this is how it produces electricity.
This is how pretty much every electricity on the world is make, like hydroelectric power, wind

PAGE 3

SITIO ILOG PUGAD, BRGY. SAN JUAN TAYTAY, RIZAL

WWW.NCBA.EDU.PH

SOLAR INFOBUZZ:
STORM:
Deadly tsunami
of
radioactivity
coming
right in front of
you.
(Photo courtesy
The picture above is a solar storm heading towards Earth.
Those eruptions on the sun or solar storms that you're seeing here happened in
December 2008 so I suppose we're safe, since it happened a long time ago. The first
time that we've actually seen what it looks like is when a solar storm engulfs our
EMI is a disturbance
planet. A single normal
one of these eruptions can send a billion tons of ionized gas,a
generated by an external
billion tons on solar
plasma
toward
source
thathurtling
affects
an our planet. But dont panic just yet; the
magnetic field around
the
Earth
protects
electrical circuit by electro-from being vaporized to death. And solar
storms create the most
gigantic
and beautiful
magnetic
induction,
electro- auroras.
static

coupling,

ELECTROMAG
NETIC

or

conduction.
Solar storms carry
so much energy that it can affect everything well, practically
almost in Earth that has electromagnetism. That includes cellphones, radios, TVs,
Both man-made
and your well beloved computers.
I know,and
I know this is serious stuff right now.
natural sources generate
changing electrical currents
and voltages that can cause
EMI: automobile ignition
systems,
cell
phones,
thunder storms, the Sun,
and the Northern Lights.
EMI frequently affects AM
radios. It can also affect cell
phones, FM radios, and
televisions.
OCCURENCE ON EARTH

HELLO?
ANYONE
THERE?
Communicatio
n blackouts
caused
by
iononospheric
anomalies.

On September 1-2,
1859, the largest recorded
Communication blackouts
yepstorm
you guessed
it communication systems knocked
geomagnetic
occurred.
From
August
28
until
out.
September
2,
1859,
numerous
sunspots
and
It is a total lack of radio communications
capability, caused by ionospheric
solar
flares
were
observed
anomalies, for example, during strong auroral activity or during re-entry of a
the Sun, with the largest
spacecraft into theon
Earth's
atmosphere.
flare on September 1. This
is referred to as the Solar
Communicationstorm
blackouts
are common
of 1859
or thein space exploration. However, in manned
space explorations,
blackouts
means no communication between the spacecraft and
Carrington
Event.

the control center in the Earth. It usually lasts only for a few minutes.

Reentry blackouts are caused by an envelope of ionized air around the craft,
created by the heat from the compression of the atmosphere by the craft. The ionized
air interferes with radio signals.
PAGE 4

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WWW.NCBA.EDU.PH

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