What are Solar Storms? Can we survive Solar Storms? - VastlyCurious

    What if a Solar Storm were to hit our planet and our Electricity goes offline? Believe it or not, solar storms can make serious damage to the infrastructure we made on Earth. We won't last a day without our electricity and our modern-day gadgets. So what are Solar Storms really and is there a way to prevent them from ever happening? How dangerous is the threat of Solar Storms?

A Corona Mass Ejection spotted on August 31,2012

What is a Solar Storm?

    Our Planet is made habitable only by the sun and it makes the ideal temperature on earth by not allowing the water on Earth to get frozen or not allowing it to Boil away either. But no one good is ever truly good, it occasionally ejects the radiation and plasma in random directions in the form of Solar Flares or the Coronal Mass Ejection (CMEs). These CMEs might hit Earth, creating a Solar Storm on Earth and it might have serious consequences on our Planet as it could send a stream of electrically charged particles towards the Earth at the speed of three million miles per hour (4.82 million kilometres per hour). These Solar Storms haven't done serious damage so far on Earth because the Earth is protected by its very own magnetic field. These CMEs occurs only when the Sun's magnetic pole shift happens. The Sun reverses its magnetic poles every 11 Earth years. So there might be Solar Storms on Earth every 11 years, but the effect of Solar storms varies due to the position and the orbit of our planet.

Plasma Discharge on the Sun

How do Solar Storms occur?

    Our Star, the sun made of plasma, consists of charged photons and electrons. It creates the magnetic field as they move because electricity can create magnetic fields and magnetic fields can generate electricity. This Generated Magnetic field creates enormous energy and leaks out to the entire solar system. The Plasma doesn't always remain calm and smooth, as they get quirky, the magnetic field around the Sun gets twisted, this creates a magnetic knot that surges colossal amounts of energy. When these knots break, you know Boom! The sun would release plasma into the entire solar system at the speed of a whopping 3 million miles per hour (4.82 million Kilometres per hour).

• Solar Flares

    A wave of strong-energy radiation sweeps the protons in the entire solar system and creating a huge solar proton storm. It could penetrate into our ionosphere and cause Auroras, which are visible at both poles of the Earth. These might release High energy particles, X-rays and bursts of radio waves. This could last from several minutes to a few hours on Earth. Only the Radio communications on Earth could be disrupted, no critical damage!

Aurora visible due to Solar Flares

• Coronal Mass Ejections

    These are very dangerous solar storms that tear apart the sun's core, forming billions of tons of plasma and ejecting it at random directions in the solar system at the speed of 5.5 million miles per hour (9 million kmph). But no worries for the people on Earth as these storms would only affect the satellites and astronauts. It is not associated with Solar flares, they could form Geo storms on Earth and damage our magnetosphere. They could also impact the satellites and astronauts in space.

• Super Solar Storms

    The Super Solar Storms are very dangerous which could even affect the Earth directly and could cause severe damage to our power grids. It is very similar to the CMEs, but with an even higher intensity of the plasma and they are expected to happen every century. The super solar storms have the capacity to compress the Earth's magnetic field and possibly cause a geomagnetic storm on Earth, which could damage all our electrical and electronics taking us back to the stone age. 

How do Solar Storms affect the Earth?

    A Geostorm affecting the Earth might not be a problem for people centuries ago, because they don't have any gadgets then. But a Geostorm affecting the Earth will be a great problem for all of us on Earth because we use machines made out of metals and wires. In this 21st century, we have covered the Earth in several kilometres with wires and electric grids. The CME's could shut down the power station or worse, it could destroy the transformers. This has happened already during a Solar storm in 1989 in which the Quebec power grid in Canada was completely damaged and the whole of Canada suffered an Electricity Blackout.

The Effects on Solar Storms on Electric Grids

   We are entirely dependent on electricity and technology for our survival, so if a Super Solar Storm were to hit the Earth the effects could be catastrophic. No more computers and smartphones! Even our water supply could be affected due to the loss of electricity. The lack of power might delay the time to fix these damages as our electric tools would be of no use. This power blackout would last for years and it will hard to repair all of our damaged power stations. It might take us back to the stone age or is there a way to prevent this from ever happening in the first place?

    The destruction of the Electrical power stations could be a loss of electricity for several years, the rebuilding our entire power systems might take a few years. But we might have the technology prevent that from ever happening. We might have a few hours or even a few days before we know it is coming. During the Solar Storms, the transformers and power grids could be powered off, thus preventing damage to the power systems. Extra lines of power grids could be designed to cut off the excess power outrage to prevent any severe damage to our lines.

Conclusion

    Even though Solar Storms are not preventable, their side effects could be avoided by proper observation of Solar Storms and using techniques to prevent them from happening. The Engineers of our planet are very aware of the solar storms and the nasty effects that they might cause. With investments in our Electric power stations, we might prevent the failing of Electric grids even from the worst Storms.