The sky at night is a truly amazing thing – but it offers some pretty spectacular learning opportunities during the day, too. Through the physics activities outlined here, pupils will learn that our sun is a star that has constant and intense activity taking place on its surface. They will learn about the Aurora Borealis and what it tells us about activity on the sun and coronal mass ejections.
Various methods of investigating solar activity during the daytime are possible and students can make a device to safely view the sun. They will also be able to explain the implications of solar storms on our telecommunications and electrical infrastructure. They will investigate electromagnetic radiation and determine for themselves the speed of light (throughout the activities you should stress the danger of looking at the sun with the naked eye, which can cause permanent blindness).
