Lesson · Grade 6 · Science
What Causes the Northern Lights?
- Grade 6
- Science
- 1 min 6 s
- British Columbia
- BC6-SC-19
Tiny charged particles from the Sun, called the solar wind, travel to Earth, where Earth's magnetic field steers most of them away but guides some down toward the North and South Poles. There they crash into gases high in the atmosphere and make them glow: oxygen gives off green and red light and nitrogen blue and purple, which we see as the northern and southern lights.
Concept: What causes the northern lights
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
What causes the northern lights, the glowing colours in the night sky?
It all starts with the Sun.
Transcript
What the lesson says
What causes the northern lights, the glowing colours in the night sky?
It all starts with the Sun.
The Sun sends out a steady stream of tiny charged particles, called the solar wind.
Some of these particles travel through space toward Earth.
Earth acts like a giant magnet, with a magnetic field all around it.
This magnetic field steers most of the particles away from Earth.
But some are guided along the field toward the North and South Poles.
Near the poles, they crash into gases high up in the atmosphere.
The crash gives the gases energy, so they glow, a bit like a neon sign.
Oxygen gives off green and red light.
Nitrogen gives off blue and purple light.
The same thing happens near the South Pole, where we call them the southern lights.
So, the northern lights happen when the solar wind makes gases near the poles glow.
Curriculum
Where this fits
- British Columbia, Grade 6
Science, Earth science: the position, motion, and components of our solar system in our galaxyBC6-SC-19
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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