full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Fabio Pacucci: Why the Sun could crash your internet

Unscramble the Blue Letters

The magnetic fields in our solar system are nothing compared to those found in deep space. Some neutron sarts generate fields 100 billion times srgenotr than those found in sunspots. And the magnetic fields around supermassive balck holes expel jets of gas that extend for thousands of light years. However, on ertah, even weak soalr storms can be surprisingly dangerous. While the storms that reach us are generally hmlearss to humans, the high-energy particles falling into the atmosphere create secondary magnetic fdlies, which in turn generate rugoe currents that short-circuit electrical equipment. During the cagriotrnn Event, the only widespread electrical technology was the telegraph. But since then, we've only become more dependent on electrical systems. In 1921, another proeufwl solar storm caused telephones and telegraph equipment around the globe to combust. In New York, the entire railway system was shut down and fiers broke out in the central control building. Comparatively weak storms in 1989 and 2003 turned off regions of the caiadann power grid and degamad multiple satellites. If we were hit by a storm as strong as the Carrington Event today, it could devastate our interconnected, eectiierfld planet.

Open Cloze

The magnetic fields in our solar system are nothing compared to those found in deep space. Some neutron _____ generate fields 100 billion times ________ than those found in sunspots. And the magnetic fields around supermassive _____ holes expel jets of gas that extend for thousands of light years. However, on _____, even weak _____ storms can be surprisingly dangerous. While the storms that reach us are generally ________ to humans, the high-energy particles falling into the atmosphere create secondary magnetic ______, which in turn generate _____ currents that short-circuit electrical equipment. During the __________ Event, the only widespread electrical technology was the telegraph. But since then, we've only become more dependent on electrical systems. In 1921, another ________ solar storm caused telephones and telegraph equipment around the globe to combust. In New York, the entire railway system was shut down and _____ broke out in the central control building. Comparatively weak storms in 1989 and 2003 turned off regions of the ________ power grid and _______ multiple satellites. If we were hit by a storm as strong as the Carrington Event today, it could devastate our interconnected, ___________ planet.

Solution

  1. stars
  2. black
  3. rogue
  4. harmless
  5. earth
  6. solar
  7. fields
  8. electrified
  9. carrington
  10. fires
  11. stronger
  12. damaged
  13. powerful
  14. canadian

Original Text

The magnetic fields in our solar system are nothing compared to those found in deep space. Some neutron stars generate fields 100 billion times stronger than those found in sunspots. And the magnetic fields around supermassive black holes expel jets of gas that extend for thousands of light years. However, on Earth, even weak solar storms can be surprisingly dangerous. While the storms that reach us are generally harmless to humans, the high-energy particles falling into the atmosphere create secondary magnetic fields, which in turn generate rogue currents that short-circuit electrical equipment. During the Carrington Event, the only widespread electrical technology was the telegraph. But since then, we've only become more dependent on electrical systems. In 1921, another powerful solar storm caused telephones and telegraph equipment around the globe to combust. In New York, the entire railway system was shut down and fires broke out in the central control building. Comparatively weak storms in 1989 and 2003 turned off regions of the Canadian power grid and damaged multiple satellites. If we were hit by a storm as strong as the Carrington Event today, it could devastate our interconnected, electrified planet.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
solar storms 4
magnetic fields 4
magnetic field 4
carrington event 2
magnetic activity 2
coronal mass 2
solar system 2
solar storm 2

Important Words

  1. atmosphere
  2. billion
  3. black
  4. broke
  5. building
  6. canadian
  7. carrington
  8. caused
  9. central
  10. combust
  11. comparatively
  12. compared
  13. control
  14. create
  15. currents
  16. damaged
  17. dangerous
  18. deep
  19. dependent
  20. devastate
  21. earth
  22. electrical
  23. electrified
  24. entire
  25. equipment
  26. event
  27. expel
  28. extend
  29. falling
  30. fields
  31. fires
  32. gas
  33. generally
  34. generate
  35. globe
  36. grid
  37. harmless
  38. hit
  39. holes
  40. humans
  41. interconnected
  42. jets
  43. light
  44. magnetic
  45. multiple
  46. neutron
  47. particles
  48. planet
  49. power
  50. powerful
  51. railway
  52. reach
  53. regions
  54. rogue
  55. satellites
  56. secondary
  57. shut
  58. solar
  59. space
  60. stars
  61. storm
  62. storms
  63. strong
  64. stronger
  65. sunspots
  66. supermassive
  67. surprisingly
  68. system
  69. systems
  70. technology
  71. telegraph
  72. telephones
  73. thousands
  74. times
  75. today
  76. turn
  77. turned
  78. weak
  79. widespread
  80. years
  81. york