Evening star., 1940-03-25
Expert Here Explains
Solar Disturbance
Ha|ting Wire Service
Intense Storm Results
As World Gets in Poth
Of Eleetrons From Sun
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

The most intense electric storm
OF the past three years, which yes
terday disrupted radio and wire
communications over half the world,
resulted when the world got into
the direct path of streams of elec-
irons shot from the sun like water
from a hose, it is explained by
Carnegie Institution experts.
The disturbance was felt over
nearly all of the daylight half of
the planet.
1t was first observed at the Chel-
tenham, Nd, magnetic observatory
shortly before 10 am. Between l
and pm, when it subsidized, it
reached the second highest intensity
on the magnetic storm scale.
Such disturbances are especially
likely, 1t was explained by DR.. John
A. Fleming, director of the depart
ment OF terrestrial magnetism Of
the Carnegie Institution Of WASH
ington, at the spring and autumn
equinoxes when the earth is directly
IN the plane of the sun.
Constant Radiations From Sun.
The sun is constantly sending out
electrical Neutrality-suspicious. of
electrons moving with the speed of
light or occasionally, as some ply
slclsts now believe, of actual par
tlcles which require from 8 to 10
hours to reach the neighborhood
of the earth.
1t is these radiations from the sun
which make any kind of radio COM
munlcatlon possible. They knock
outer electrons off the atoms in the
high atmosphere and thus create
two, or at times three, electrical
shells. Through these radio waves
cannot escape into outer space.
The most prominent of these and
the most important from the view
point OF radio is the so-called E
layer, which completely surrounds
the globe about so miles above the
surface. When an especially strong
shower Of electrons comes from the
sun. this E layer begins to shift vio-
lently up and down.
Different Lengths are re-
fected from different attitudes.
When a storm is in progress, the
appropriate height of the shell for
any particular wave-length will not
stay constant. The result is that
when they are bounced back" from
the ceiling, they are constantly
stepping on each others heels.
UninteIligible Jumbles Result.
This results in some of the un-
Ineligible jumbles which were heard
yesterday. Had the shower from
the sun been made up of actual
particles, the result would have been
to smash holes in the shell through
which the waves would have escaped
into outer space. So far as can be
judged from present reports, this
did not happen.
Curiously enough, DR.. Fleming
said, there are some reports of the
best reception from Europe ever
known at the height of the storm
yesterday. This was because, by
pure chance, just the proper wave
band was used to fit the actual
height of the E layer at q particular
time. There would be no way of
judging this beforehand.
Sun spots, DR.. Fleming explained,
are only one indication of unusual
activity on the sun. They are con-
sidered as gigantic whirlwinds in
the planets atmosphere, which pre-
sumably are set up by terrific ex-
plosions in the depths of the star.
The spots themselves do not send
out the streams of particles but are
themselves results of the same un-
known cause.