- #1
GaffneysWrath
- 2
- 0
I am having difficulty using the right hand rule to explain a natural phenomenon.
Here's my concern: I know that incomming charged particles from the sun are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field because charged particles moving through a magnetic field experience a magnetic force. Here's a crude diagram to explain what I'm talking about:
SUN -----------------------------> (+) EARTH
If you apply the right hand rule here, the resultant force points out of the screen for positively charged particles and into the screen for negative. This implies that the particles would be deflected around the Earth along the equator.
So here's my question, if the particles get deflected around the earth, how do they end up impacting the atmosphere around the poles and causing aurora's and such. How does the Earth's magnetic field direct charges towards to poles if the force doesn't point up or down? What am I missing?
Here's my concern: I know that incomming charged particles from the sun are deflected by the Earth's magnetic field because charged particles moving through a magnetic field experience a magnetic force. Here's a crude diagram to explain what I'm talking about:
Earth's Field
^
l
l
l
Velocity of particle
If you apply the right hand rule here, the resultant force points out of the screen for positively charged particles and into the screen for negative. This implies that the particles would be deflected around the Earth along the equator.
So here's my question, if the particles get deflected around the earth, how do they end up impacting the atmosphere around the poles and causing aurora's and such. How does the Earth's magnetic field direct charges towards to poles if the force doesn't point up or down? What am I missing?