Aperitivo Scientifico - Aurora Polaris: when the Earth's magnetic field lights up the sky of the poles

by Dr Romano Serra (University of Bologna)

Friday 11 Mar 2016, 11:30 → 12:30 Europe/Rome

Sala riunioni I piano (Department of Physics and Astronomy)

As a result of my recent trip to Norway at around 70° latitude (locality Tromso), I will show pictures and videos of the most well known phenomenon present in those places, that is, the aurora borealis, as well as other phenomena associated with the high value of the latitude, such as the high speed of rotation of the plane of oscillation of a pendulum like the one used by Foucault. Furthermore, in order to explain and describe the aurora, or northen light, experiments will be carried out which show the electromagnetic phenomena that induce the production of light by charged particles interacting with a magnetic field.