Hi there! Let me tell you about a cool adventure I had when I visited my sister Heather and her family in Northern Canada. One night, we went outside and saw something amazing in the sky—a beautiful greenish glow. Have you ever heard of the Northern Lights? They’re also called the aurora, and they’re truly magical!
The Northern Lights are like colorful curtains of light that dance across the sky. They can be green, red, or even pink! But why do they happen, and why can you see them in places like Northern Canada?
You can see these lights near the North Pole and the South Pole. So, besides Canada, you might spot them in places like Alaska, Iceland, and even parts of Southern Australia and New Zealand. Scientists call them “auroras” because they can happen in both the northern and southern parts of the world.
For a long time, people didn’t know why auroras happened. But here’s the cool part: the sun is involved! The sun gives off tiny bits of electricity, especially when it has big eruptions of hot gases. These gases travel all the way to Earth and zap the top layers of our air, making them glow. That’s what we see as the auroras!
Now, you might wonder why auroras mostly happen near the poles. It’s because Earth is like a giant magnet, and the strongest parts of this magnet are near the North and South Poles. These areas attract the sun’s electrical material, so the air there gets zapped more often, creating the beautiful lights.
Guess what? We can create our own auroras! By putting a little bit of air in a glass tube and running electricity through it, we can make the air glow. Scientists have found that different gases glow in different colors. For example, a gas called argon glows light purple, and neon glows reddish-orange. That’s why neon signs look so colorful—they work just like auroras!
There’s so much more to discover about auroras and other mysteries around us. If you’re curious, keep asking questions and exploring the world. Who knows what amazing things you’ll find out next!
Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Until next time, keep looking up at the sky and wondering about the wonders of our world!
Create Your Own Aurora Experiment: With the help of an adult, try creating a simple experiment to mimic how auroras work. You will need a clear glass jar, a small flashlight, and some colored cellophane or transparent colored plastic. Cover the flashlight with the colored cellophane and shine it into the jar in a dark room. Move the light around to see how the colors change and dance. Discuss how this is similar to the Northern Lights and what makes the real auroras glow.
Aurora Art Project: Use colored pencils, crayons, or watercolors to create your own version of the Northern Lights. Imagine you are in a place where you can see the auroras and draw what you think they would look like. Share your artwork with your family or classmates and explain why you chose those colors and shapes. Think about how the real Northern Lights might move and change in the sky.
Observation and Imagination: Next time you are outside at night, look up at the sky and imagine what it would be like to see the Northern Lights. Write a short story or a poem about your imaginary experience. What colors do you see? How do the lights move? How do you feel watching them? Share your story or poem with a friend or family member.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(ringing) – Hi, it’s Doug. This is my sister Heather and her family. They live in Northern Canada, and a couple of years ago, I got to visit them. One of the coolest things we did on my trip was to go in their backyard and see this amazing greenish glow covering the sky. Maybe you’ve heard of this before. It’s called the aurora, or the Northern Lights. Someone named Robin has a question about this. Let’s give him a call now. (ringing) – Hi, Doug. – Hey, Robin. – I have a question for you. What causes the Northern Lights? – That is a great question. When most people see the Northern Lights, it’s usually in a photograph, like these. It’s just a still image. So I was really surprised when I got to see them in real life because what I didn’t know is that the aurora actually moves in real life. This is a real-time video. It’s not sped up. (ethereal music) Even if you do look at them in a sped-up video, it’s just as amazing. You can really get a sense of how they move. They look like curtains of light dancing across the sky. What are these incredible lights? And why did I have to go all the way up to Northern Canada to see them? Well, for starters, it’s not just in the northern parts of the world that we see them. You can see them in the far southern parts of the world too. The Northern Lights are something that can only be seen in places near the poles of the Earth, both the North Pole area and the South Pole area, which means not only can you see them from Canada, Alaska, Iceland, and so on, but sometimes you can see them in parts of Southern Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. Because you can see them in both the North and the South Pole areas, scientists prefer to call them auroras, a name that doesn’t automatically have the word Northern or Southern attached to it. And auroras don’t just come in green light either. Green is definitely the most common, but sometimes they can appear red, even pink. But what makes these lights happen? What do you think? Before I say anything more, now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss. Okay, you ready? For most of history, the auroras were one of the greatest mysteries. No one knew for sure why they happened. Some of the Dene people, people like my brother-in-law’s family in Northern Canada a long time ago, had noticed a similarity between the glow of an aurora and the glow from little electrical sparks you can see from static, like when you get a little shock. Today, we know that the Dene people were onto something when they noticed that. As unbelievable as this might sound, scientists have discovered that the sun actually gives off a little bit of electricity, especially when there are a lot of eruptions of hot gases from its surface. These gases released by the sun contain electricity. When some of this material escapes from the sun and makes its way all the way to the Earth, it hits the top layers of the Earth’s air, zapping it. That causes those layers of air to glow. When this happens, down here on the surface of the Earth, we see this, the auroras. So the auroras happen when small amounts of electricity from the sun zap the air. But why does this only happen around the Poles? That’s a harder question to answer. It has to do with the incredible discovery that the Earth is a giant magnet, a magnet that’s strongest near the North and South Poles. The area around the North and South Poles attracts the electrical material from the sun. So that’s why the air around those places gets zapped more often than other places on Earth. That’s why there are auroras there. There’s lots more you can learn about all of this. Definitely ask more questions about anything you’re curious about. For now, let me just leave you with this thought. If auroras are caused by zapping air with electricity, does that mean we could actually create our own auroras? We can. In fact, we do. By placing a little bit of air in a glass tube, then running electricity through it, we can make that air glow, just like an aurora. Scientists have discovered that it doesn’t even have to be air. We can use other kinds of gases too. And these create different colors. Check this out. A gas called argon glows a light purple color when it’s electrified. A gas called neon glows reddish-orange. Today, we tend to call all of these lights neon lights, no matter what color they are, since neon was the first gas to be used when people started making these. So next time you see a neon sign, think of auroras. They glow for the same reason. That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Robin, for asking it. Now for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and picked out three questions submitted to me that I’m thinking about answering next. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: What’s the biggest apple in the world? Why do lights get hot? Or, what is chalk made out of? So submit your vote when the video is over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us.
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