What are the four classes of solar flares?
Flares classes have names: A, B, C, M, and X, with A being the tiniest and X being the largest. Each category has nine subdivisions ranging from, e.g., C1 to C9, M1 to M9, and X1 to X9. These are logarithmic scales, much like the seismic Richter scale.
What is a-class solar flare?
The largest solar flares are known as “X-class flares” based on a classification system that divides solar flares according to their strength. The smallest ones are A-class , followed by B, C, M and X. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output.
Are B class solar flares the strongest?
Solar flares are classified according to their strength. The smallest ones are A-class, followed by B, C, M and X, the largest. Solar flares are giant explosions on the sun that send energy, light and high speed particles into space.
How many nuclear bombs is a solar flare equivalent to?
2.5 million nuclear bombs
A single flare then creates an explosion equivalent to 2.5 million nuclear bombs on Earth, each with a destructive force of 100 Megatons of trinitrotoluene, or TNT.
What was the biggest solar flare?
On April 2, 2001 at 4:51 p.m. EDT, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite observed the biggest ever solar flare on record. This solar flare was way more powerful than the one on March 6, 1989, which caused the disruption of electricity grids in Canada.
How long does a typical solar flare last?
Most flares are quite short really, less than hour. The longest flare that we’ve seen with the Japanese Yohkoh satellite was 12 hours though. Compared to flares on other stars though the Sun is a bit of a wimp – some of those flares are a thousand times more energetic than the Sun and can last up to 10 days!
Will cars work after solar flare?
The EMP test indicates that roughly 15% of running vehicles may shut down if exposed to an EMP blast at or over 25kV/m over a wide range of area. In other words, short of a massive solar flare, only a nuclear explosion or purpose-built EMP would create the kind of pulse needed to cause the shutdown effect to occur.
How many times more powerful is a Superflare than a solar flare?
Superflares are very strong explosions observed on stars with energies up to ten thousand times that of typical solar flares.
How many times more powerful is a Superlare than a solar flare?
That sounds bad enough, but a superflare would be 1,000 times more powerful than all previously recorded solar flares and could cause even more destruction. Scientists now think our sun is capable of emitting one of these monstrous superflares after studying another star similar to our sun.
How far away from a nuclear bomb is safe?
Death is highly likely and radiation poisoning is almost certain if one is caught in the open with no terrain or building masking effects within a radius of 0–3 km from a 1 megaton airburst, and the 50% chance of death from the blast extends out to ~8 km from the same 1 megaton atmospheric explosion.
Is there a limit to the size of a nuclear bomb?
There is no theoretical limit to the number of stages that might be used and, consequently, no theoretical limit to the size and yield of a thermonuclear weapon. However, there is a practical limit because of size and weight limitations imposed by the requirement that the weapon be deliverable.