What’s the relationship between sunspots and geomagnetic storms that can affect the earth? Is this just panic bait or is there actually something potential here?
Yes it’s bait but also there is real science behind it. Sun spots are magnetic knots that are wound up magnetic lines. If the lines snap they could pull huge amounts of charged particles and launch them at earth.
The risk is that if big enough it could strip back the our magnetic field reducing our production from radiation and all the electrical charged particles. This could mean electrical systems are disrupted, destroyed, or even catch fire. In the worst case the amount of radiation could kill millions.
So yeah chances are very low but never 0.
Sun spots produce solar flares if the magnetic lines break. Big enough solar flares have enough ionizing radiation to work like an EMP. Knocking out satellites, phones, computers, modern cars, basically anything electronic that isn’t shielded. The chances of that happening are fairly low tho.
If it rivals the Carrington event though, it will likely have catastrophic effects. Pretty sure a bunch of infrastructure nationally could not withstand such an event. Unprotected electronics basically get fried.
Yup, that’s the point. The grid fails, nobody has any communication, most digital records are gone. Good times.
