The Differential Rotation of the Sun Causes the Magnetic Fields

question 37

Multiple Choice

The differential rotation of the Sun causes the magnetic fields in its interior to become tangled. According to the Babcock model of the solar activity cycle, what happens to these tangled magnetic fields?

• A) These tangled fields finally merge into a single magnetic field emerging from the Sun's north pole and entering the Sun's south pole. This merging begins the 11-year solar cycle.
• B) The magnetic fields stretch and thereby lose energy, which makes them lighter, and they float to the Sun's photosphere, where they break through and form sunspot groups.
• C) The tangled magnetic fields interrupt the convection currents and trap gas. The gas rises, carrying the fields with it, and floats to the Sun's photosphere, where the field lines break through the surface and form sunspot groups.
• D) These tangled fields alternately trap and release gases from the convection currents, leading to the periodic pulsations observed by helioseismology.

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