<p> Name: Hour: How Does the Sunspot Cycle Affect Earth?  Access the website: http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/navigation/home.cfm  In the “Enter Keycode” box, type in ES2605  Answer the following questions. Page 1 1. What did people notice about the appearance of the sun’s surface?</p><p>2. Why do sunspots move across the face of the Earth?</p><p>3. What do the sunspot regions look like in the x-ray images? How might the activity at these areas affect Earth?</p><p>Page 2 4. What is solar wind?</p><p>5. Earth is 150 million kilometers from the sun and the solar wind travels at about 400 km/sec. How long does it take particles from a solar storm to reach Earth? (Hint: Time = distance/speed. To convert from seconds to hours , divide the time in seconds by 3600.)</p><p>6. What do you think would happen if Earth’s magnetic field became weaker or disappeared entirely?</p><p>7. In the illustration, where do you see weaknesses in Earth’s magnetic shield— places where the magnetic field may allow solar wind particles near the surface?</p><p>Page 3 8. Explain how solar storms can affect the following: a. space travel</p><p> b. satellites</p><p> c. aurora</p><p> d. power lines e. navigation</p><p> f. animals</p><p> g. pipelines</p><p> h. air travel</p><p> i. communication systems</p><p>Page 4 9. What is the average time between solar maxima?</p><p>10. Predict the year in which you think the next solar maximum will occur.</p><p>Page 5 11. In the table, write the name of the environmental measurement and tell whether you think there is a correlation (connection) between the measurement and the sunspot number. Environmental Measurement Correlation</p><p>Page 6 12. Identify 3 jobs held by people who would need to check the space weather report regularly, and explain why the report is important to each.</p>