Category: other

When astronomers study sunspots they occasionally notice that there only seems t…

Lou Bloomfield Leave a comment

When astronomers study sunspots they occasionally notice that there only seems to be one magnetic pole. But I thought that monopoles didn’t exist that we know of. What’s going on?

While a sunspot may have only one magnetic pole associated with it, there is sure to be an equal but opposite pole somewhere else in the sun. Probably it’s located deep inside the sun or somewhere else on the sun’s surface. Like one end of a long bar magnet, the sunspot looks like a single pole, but it’s really connected to an equal but opposite pole.

How do black holes work?

Lou Bloomfield Leave a comment

How do black holes work?

As you assemble more and more mass together in a small volume, the gravity there becomes stronger and stronger. At first, it becomes more and more difficult to throw a ball upward hard enough to make it sail away from the mass into space. Eventually, you need a cannon to get the ball to leave. And by the time you get enough mass together, the gravity becomes so strong that light itself begins to have trouble escaping. Light falls in gravity, just like anything else. But it travels so fast that you barely notice it falling. However when the gravity becomes strong enough, light falls enough to cause some weird effects. A black hole forms when the gravity is so strong the even light is unable to escape from the mass.

How do compasses work?

Lou Bloomfield Leave a comment

How do compasses work?

A compass contains a magnetized needle, with a north pole at one end and a south pole at the other. Since opposite magnetic poles attract one another, the north pole of the compass is attracted toward any south poles it can find and the south pole of the compass is attracted toward any north poles it can find. The earth happens to have a strong south magnetic pole near its north geographical pole and a north magnetic pole near its south pole. As a result, compass needles turn (the experience torques) until their north magnetic pole ends are pointed northward (toward the south magnetic pole located there).