Magnetism & Space Weather Workshops at the 2009 NSTA Regional Conferences

• Friday, Oct. 30 in Minneapolis
• Saturday, Nov. 14 in Ft. Lauderdale
• Friday, Dec. 4 in Phoenix

Windows to the Universe staff presented a workshop titled "Magnetism Activities, Earth's Magnetism, and Space Weather from Windows to the Universe" at each of the three NSTA Regional Conferences in Minneapolis, Fort Lauderdale, and Phoenix during the fall of 2009. The main elements of this workshop were:

1. a series of hands-on activities related to magnetism, and
2. a presentation about Space Weather and Sun-Earth connections.

This page provides links to write-ups of the hands-on activities and links to resources (images, animations, etc.) displayed during the workshop.

List of Hands-on Activities

Write-ups of the hands-on activities conducted at the workshop can be found at the links below:

• Magnetometer (in Spanish)
• Magnetometer Extensions - Prospecting for Iron Ore & Seafloor Spreading (in Spanish)
• Terrabagga (in Spanish)
• Magnetic Levitation (in Spanish)

Images, Animations, and Interactives shown during the Presentation

Most of the images, animations, and interactives shown as part of the Space Weather presentation at the workshop are available online at the links listed below:

• Seafloor Spreading
  • Image of Mid-Atlantic Ridge, suitable for pasting onto a file folder to use for the Magnetometer Extensions (Seafloor Spreading) Activity
  • Image of Mid-Atlantic Ridge, showing coastlines of the Americas and Africa, suitable for pasting onto a file folder to use for the Magnetometer Extensions (Seafloor Spreading) Activity
  • Graphic of Rocks Recording Magnetic Reversals Symmetrically about a Spreading Ridge (Images courtesy USGS)
  • Ages of Global Oceanic Crust, Mercator Projection (Image courtesy NOAA)
  • Age of Atlantic Ocean Seafloor Crust, Globe (Image courtesy NOAA)
  • Convective Motion in the Mantle Drives Seafloor Spreading (Image courtesy USGS)
• Earth's Magnetic Poles
  • Earth's North Magnetic Pole interactive
  • Location of North Magnetic Pole in 2005
  • Movement of the North Magnetic Pole from 1831 to 2001 (Courtesy of the Geologic Survey of Canada)
  • Presumed Movement of the North Magnetic Pole from 1600 to 2001 (Courtesy of the Geologic Survey of Canada)
• Reversals of Earth's Magnetic Field
  • Reversals of Earth's Magnetic Field During the Past 160 Million Years (Image courtesy USGS)
  • Side-by-side: Reversals of Earth's Magnetic Field During the Past 160 and 5 Million Years (Images courtesy USGS)
  • Reversals of Earth's Magnetic Field During the Past 5 Million Years
  • Variations in Strength of Earth's Magnetic Field During the Past 800,000 Years (Image courtesy USGS)
• Earth beside Sunspot
• Rotating Sun with Sunspots (animation)
• Animation: Magnetic Field Lines Tangle as Sun Rotates (QuickTime: large or small, MPEG: large or small)
• Coronal Loops in the Sun's atmosphere - TRACE spacecraft image
• Horseshoe magnet in Sun
• Prominence size comparison with Earth
• CME animation - SOHO coronagraph (large)
• Animation: Model of CME from Sun to Earth (small or large)
• Earth globe with Magnetic Field Lines
• Earth's Magnetic Field - compare to bar magnet (simple slideshow animation)
• Bar Magnet & Compass interactive (Flash)
• Bar Magnet, Compass, and Magnetic Field Lines Interactive (Java)
• Earth Magnetic Field and Compass interactive
• Earth Magnetosphere diagram (magnetosphere page)
• Earth Plasmasphere diagram (plasmasphere page)
• Earth radiation belts diagram (radiation belts page)
• Aurora photos - viewed from Earth - green and green & purple
• Aurora from Earth orbit
• Auroral oval images from Earth orbit (close-up and whole planet view)
• Jupiter's Aurora (polar close-up | whole planet view)
• Saturn's Aurora (image 1 | image 2 | image 3)

Page created September 25, 2009 by Randy Russell.
The source of this material is Windows to the Universe, at http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). ©1995-1999, 2000 The Regents of the University of Michigan; ©2000-05 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. All Rights Reserved. Site policies and disclaimer