|
|
 |
how explosive are solar flares?
|
|
|
|
| |
|
 |
 Here is a volcanic eruption in Iceland, under the Vatnajokull ice cap. It occurred in 1996 and melted right through the ice cap - which was 800m thick.
|
|
 This is the crater which was left after the explosion. Imagine the energy it took to melt all that ice.
|
Images Courtesy of Prof Bob White, Cambridge University
|
A volcano can continue erupting over a long time, perhaps a week, so in many cases the energy is released gradually. A typical solar flare lasts less than an hour and so not only is it much more energetic than anything else in the solar system, but it's also a more violent release of energy.
|
The energy released by a typical solar flare is about 10 million times more than that of a volcanic explosion like this.
|
The meteor crater in Arizona is 1.2 km in diameter and the energy needed to create it was about the equivalent of 3,500,000 tonnes of explosive.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
