I Relation between spin and solar winds

QuasarBoy543298
Messages
32
Reaction score
2
I was thinking to myself, how come are particles coming from the sun gets deflected the way they do due to Earth's magnetic field?
They are getting pulled toward the poles, but if we think in terms of classical Lorentz force, they should not just follow the magnetic field lines, but rather start gaining speed in a perpendicular direction.
my idea was to think of this in terms of the Stern-Gerlach experiment. (magnetic field in the Z direction => two dots on the z-axis)
so, is the deflection solar winds from the Earth is just a big Stern-Gerlach experiment?
 
Last edited:
Physics news on Phys.org
saar321412 said:
I was thinking to myself, how come are particles coming from the sun gets deflected the way they do due to Earth's magnetic field?
They are getting pulled toward the poles, but if we think in terms of classical Lorentz force, they should not just follow the magnetic field lines, but rather start gaining speed in a perpendicular direction.
my idea was to think of this in terms of the Stern-Gerlach experiment. (magnetic field in the Z direction => two dots on the z-axis)
so, is the deflection solar winds from the Earth is just a big Stern-Gerlach experiment?
No. The Lorentz force dominates for charged particles. It's very difficult to construct a SG experiment in practice because you need a large particle that is almost electrically neutral and has one unpaired electron. That's why silver atoms are used.

If you put an electron through a SG magnet, it would fly off under the Lorentz force. As would most charged particles. It takes the special case of silver atoms to focus on the spin on the outermost electron.
 
  • Like
Likes vanhees71
So, what is the mechanism that causes this deflection?
 
saar321412 said:
So, what is the mechanism that causes this deflection?
Try this:

 
it doesn't answer the question :(
the video does not explains what guides the interaction between this plasma cloud and Earth's magnetic field
 
saar321412 said:
it doesn't answer the question :(
the video does not explains what guides the interaction between this plasma cloud and Earth's magnetic field
The Lorentz force.
 
Just think about a constant magnetic field first. The equation of motion (here the non-relativistic version for simplicity in SI units)
$$m \dot{\vec{v}}=q \vec{v} \times \vec{B}$$
shows that the velocity component along the field doesn't change and the perpendicular component just rotates around the field lines.

This qualitatively holds also true for inhomogeneous magnetic fields such as the Earth's magnetic field, and thus the plasma current runs along the field lines. Each plasma particle makes a helical motion around the field lines.
 
  • Like
Likes dextercioby
thank you!
 
  • Like
Likes berkeman
Back
Top