In 1957, University of Chicago professor E. Parker theoretically predicted the phenomenon, which was called the “solar wind.” It took two years for this prediction to be confirmed experimentally using instruments installed on the Soviet Luna-2 and Luna-3 spacecraft by K.I. Gringauz’s group. What is this phenomenon?
sunny wind is a flow of fully ionized hydrogen gas, usually called fully ionized hydrogen plasma due to approximately the same density of electrons and protons (quasineutrality condition), which accelerates from the Sun. In the region of the Earth's orbit (at one astronomical unit or 1 AU from the Sun), its speed reaches an average value of V E » 400–500 km/sec at a proton temperature T E » 100,000 K and a slightly higher electron temperature (index “E” here and in hereinafter refers to the Earth's orbit). At such temperatures, the speed is significantly higher than the speed of sound by 1 AU, i.e. The flow of solar wind in the region of the Earth's orbit is supersonic (or hypersonic). The measured concentration of protons (or electrons) is quite small and amounts to n E » 10–20 particles per cubic centimeter. In addition to protons and electrons, alpha particles (of the order of several percent of the proton concentration), a small amount of heavier particles, as well as an interplanetary magnetic field were discovered in interplanetary space, the average induction value of which turned out to be on the order of several gammas in Earth’s orbit (1g = 10 –5 gauss).
The collapse of the idea of a static solar corona.
For quite a long time, it was believed that all stellar atmospheres are in a state of hydrostatic equilibrium, i.e. in a state where the force of gravitational attraction of a given star is balanced by the force associated with the pressure gradient (the change in pressure in the star’s atmosphere at a distance r from the center of the star. Mathematically, this equilibrium is expressed as an ordinary differential equation,
Where G– gravitational constant, M* – mass of the star, p and r – pressure and mass density at some distance r from the star. Expressing mass density from the equation of state for an ideal gas
R= r RT
through pressure and temperature and integrating the resulting equation, we obtain the so-called barometric formula ( R– gas constant), which in the particular case of constant temperature T looks like
Where p 0 – represents the pressure at the base of the star’s atmosphere (at r = r 0). Since before Parker’s work it was believed that the solar atmosphere, like the atmospheres of other stars, was in a state of hydrostatic equilibrium, its state was determined by similar formulas. Taking into account the unusual and not yet fully understood phenomenon of a sharp increase in temperature from approximately 10,000 K on the surface of the Sun to 1,000,000 K in the solar corona, S. Chapman developed the theory of a static solar corona, which was supposed to smoothly transition into the local interstellar medium surrounding the Solar system. It followed that, according to the ideas of S. Chapman, the Earth, making its revolutions around the Sun, is immersed in a static solar corona. This point of view has been shared by astrophysicists for a long time.
Parker dealt a blow to these already established ideas. He drew attention to the fact that the pressure at infinity (at r® Ґ), which is obtained from the barometric formula, is almost 10 times greater in magnitude than the pressure that was accepted at that time for the local interstellar medium. To eliminate this discrepancy, E. Parker suggested that the solar corona cannot be in hydrostatic equilibrium, but must continuously expand into the interplanetary medium surrounding the Sun, i.e. radial speed V solar corona is not zero. Moreover, instead of the equation of hydrostatic equilibrium, he proposed using a hydrodynamic equation of motion of the form, where M E is the mass of the Sun.
For a given temperature distribution T, as a function of distance from the Sun, solving this equation using the barometric formula for pressure and the mass conservation equation in the form
can be interpreted as the solar wind and precisely with the help of this solution with the transition from subsonic flow (at r r *) to supersonic (at r > r*) pressure can be adjusted R with pressure in the local interstellar medium, and, therefore, it is this solution, called the solar wind, that is carried out in nature.
The first direct measurements of the parameters of interplanetary plasma, which were carried out on the first spacecraft entering interplanetary space, confirmed the correctness of Parker’s idea about the presence of supersonic solar wind, and it turned out that already in the region of the Earth’s orbit the speed of the solar wind far exceeds the speed of sound. Since then there has been no doubt that Chapman's idea of hydrostatic equilibrium solar atmosphere erroneously, and the solar corona is continuously expanding at supersonic speed into interplanetary space. Somewhat later, astronomical observations showed that many other stars have “stellar winds” similar to the solar wind.
Despite the fact that the solar wind was predicted theoretically based on a spherically symmetric hydrodynamic model, the phenomenon itself turned out to be much more complex.
What is the real pattern of solar wind movement? For a long time, the solar wind was considered spherically symmetric, i.e. independent of solar latitude and longitude. Since spacecraft before 1990, when the Ulysses spacecraft was launched, mainly flew in the ecliptic plane, measurements on such spacecraft gave distributions of solar wind parameters only in this plane. Calculations based on observations of the deflection of cometary tails indicated an approximate independence of solar wind parameters from solar latitude, however, this conclusion based on cometary observations was not sufficiently reliable due to the difficulties in interpreting these observations. Although the longitudinal dependence of solar wind parameters was measured by instruments installed on spacecraft, it was nevertheless either insignificant and associated with the interplanetary magnetic field of solar origin, or with short-term non-stationary processes on the Sun (mainly with solar flares).
Plasma parameters measurements and magnetic field in the ecliptic plane showed that so-called sector structures with different parameters of the solar wind and different directions of the magnetic field can exist in interplanetary space. Such structures rotate with the Sun and clearly indicate that they are a consequence of a similar structure in the solar atmosphere, the parameters of which therefore depend on solar longitude. The qualitative four-sector structure is shown in Fig. 1.
At the same time, ground-based telescopes detect the general magnetic field on the surface of the Sun. Its average value is estimated at 1 G, although in individual photospheric formations, for example, in sunspots, the magnetic field can be orders of magnitude greater. Since plasma is a good conductor of electricity, solar magnetic fields somehow interact with the solar wind due to the appearance of ponderomotive force j ґ B. This force is small in the radial direction, i.e. it has virtually no effect on the distribution of the radial component of the solar wind, but its projection onto a direction perpendicular to the radial direction leads to the appearance of a tangential velocity component in the solar wind. Although this component is almost two orders of magnitude smaller than the radial one, it plays a significant role in the removal of angular momentum from the Sun. Astrophysicists suggest that the latter circumstance may play a significant role in the evolution not only of the Sun, but also of other stars in which a stellar wind has been detected. In particular, to explain the sharp decrease in the angular velocity of stars of the late spectral class, the hypothesis that they transfer rotational momentum to the planets formed around them is often invoked. The considered mechanism for the loss of angular momentum of the Sun by the outflow of plasma from it in the presence of a magnetic field opens up the possibility of revising this hypothesis.
Measurements of the average magnetic field not only in the region of the Earth's orbit, but also at large heliocentric distances (for example, on the Voyager 1 and 2 and Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft) showed that in the ecliptic plane, almost coinciding with the plane of the solar equator , its magnitude and direction are well described by the formulas
received by Parker. In these formulas, which describe the so-called Parkerian spiral of Archimedes, the quantities B r, B j – radial and azimuthal components of the magnetic induction vector, respectively, W – angular velocity rotation of the sun, V– radial component of the solar wind, index “0” refers to the point of the solar corona at which the magnitude of the magnetic field is known.
The European Space Agency's launch of the Ulysses spacecraft in October 1990, whose trajectory was calculated so that it now orbits the Sun in a plane perpendicular to the ecliptic plane, completely changed the idea that the solar wind is spherically symmetric. In Fig. Figure 2 shows the distributions of radial velocity and density of solar wind protons measured on the Ulysses spacecraft as a function of solar latitude.
This figure shows a strong latitudinal dependence of solar wind parameters. It turned out that the speed of the solar wind increases, and the density of protons decreases with heliographic latitude. And if in the ecliptic plane the radial velocity is on average ~ 450 km/sec, and the proton density is ~15 cm–3, then, for example, at 75° solar latitude these values are ~700 km/sec and ~5 cm–3, respectively. The dependence of solar wind parameters on latitude is less pronounced during periods of minimum solar activity.
Non-stationary processes in the solar wind.
The model proposed by Parker assumes the spherical symmetry of the solar wind and the independence of its parameters from time (stationarity of the phenomenon under consideration). However, the processes occurring on the Sun, generally speaking, are not stationary, and therefore the solar wind is not stationary. The characteristic times for changing parameters are the most various scales. In particular, there are changes in solar wind parameters associated with the 11-year cycle of solar activity. In Fig. Figure 3 shows the average (over 300 days) dynamic pressure of the solar wind measured using the IMP-8 and Voyager-2 spacecraft (r V 2) in the area of the Earth’s orbit (at 1 AU) during one 11-year solar cycle of solar activity (upper part of the figure). On the bottom of Fig. Figure 3 shows the change in the number of sunspots over the period from 1978 to 1991 (the maximum number corresponds to the maximum solar activity). It can be seen that the parameters of the solar wind change significantly over a characteristic time of about 11 years. At the same time, measurements on the Ulysses spacecraft showed that such changes occur not only in the ecliptic plane, but also at other heliographic latitudes (at the poles the dynamic pressure of the solar wind is slightly higher than at the equator).
Changes in solar wind parameters can also occur on much smaller time scales. For example, flares on the Sun and different rates of plasma outflow from different regions of the solar corona lead to the formation of interplanetary shock waves in interplanetary space, which are characterized by a sharp jump in speed, density, pressure, and temperature. The mechanism of their formation is shown qualitatively in Fig. 4. When a fast flow of any gas (for example, solar plasma) catches up with a slower one, an arbitrary gap in the parameters of the gas appears at the point of their contact, in which the laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy are not satisfied. Such a discontinuity cannot exist in nature and breaks up, in particular, into two shock waves (on them the laws of conservation of mass, momentum and energy lead to the so-called Hugoniot relations) and a tangential discontinuity (the same conservation laws lead to the fact that on it the pressure and the normal velocity component must be continuous). In Fig. 4 this process is shown in the simplified form of a spherically symmetrical flare. It should be noted here that such structures, consisting of a forward shock wave, a tangential discontinuity and a second shock wave (reverse shock), move from the Sun in such a way that the forward shock moves at a speed greater than the speed of the solar wind, the reverse shock moves from the Sun at a speed slightly lower than the speed of the solar wind, and the speed of the tangential discontinuity is equal to the speed of the solar wind. Such structures are regularly recorded by instruments installed on spacecraft.
On changes in solar wind parameters with distance from the sun.
The change in solar wind speed with distance from the Sun is determined by two forces: the force of solar gravity and the force associated with changes in pressure (pressure gradient). Since the force of gravity decreases as the square of the distance from the Sun, its influence is insignificant at large heliocentric distances. Calculations show that already in Earth's orbit its influence, as well as the influence of the pressure gradient, can be neglected. Consequently, the speed of the solar wind can be considered almost constant. Moreover, it significantly exceeds the speed of sound (hypersonic flow). Then from the above hydrodynamic equation for the solar corona it follows that the density r decreases as 1/ r 2. The American spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2, Pioneer 10 and 11, launched in the mid-1970s and now located at distances from the Sun of several tens of astronomical units, confirmed these ideas about the parameters of the solar wind. They also confirmed the theoretically predicted Parker Archimedes spiral for the interplanetary magnetic field. However, the temperature does not follow the adiabatic cooling law as the solar corona expands. At very large distances from the Sun, the solar wind even tends to warm up. Such heating may be due to two reasons: energy dissipation associated with plasma turbulence and the influence of neutral hydrogen atoms penetrating into the solar wind from the interstellar medium surrounding the solar system. The second reason also leads to some braking of the solar wind at large heliocentric distances, detected on the above-mentioned spacecraft.
Conclusion.
Thus, the solar wind is a physical phenomenon that is not only of purely academic interest associated with the study of processes in plasma under natural conditions outer space, but also a factor that must be taken into account when studying the processes occurring in the vicinity of the Earth, since these processes, to one degree or another, influence our lives. In particular, high-speed solar wind flows flowing around the Earth’s magnetosphere affect its structure, and non-stationary processes on the Sun (for example, flares) can lead to magnetic storms that disrupt radio communications and affect the well-being of weather-sensitive people. Since the solar wind originates in the solar corona, its properties in the region of the Earth’s orbit are a good indicator for studying solar-terrestrial connections that are important for practical human activity. However, this is a different area scientific research, which we will not touch upon in this article.
Vladimir Baranov
sunny wind
Such recognition is worth a lot, because it revives to life the half-forgotten solar-plasmoid hypothesis of the origin and development of life on Earth, put forward by the Ulyanovsk scientist B. A. Solomin almost 30 years ago.
The solar-plasmoid hypothesis states that highly organized solar and terrestrial plasmoids played and still play a key role in the origin and development of life and intelligence on Earth. This hypothesis is so interesting, especially in light of the receipt of experimental materials by Novosibirsk scientists, that it is worth getting to know it in more detail.
First of all, what is a plasmoid? A plasmoid is a plasma system structured by its own magnetic field. In turn, plasma is a hot ionized gas. The simplest example of plasma is fire. Plasma has the ability to dynamically interact with a magnetic field and retain the field within itself. And the field, in turn, regulates the chaotic movement of charged plasma particles. Under certain conditions, a stable but dynamic system, consisting of plasma and magnetic field.
The source of plasmoids in the Solar System is the Sun. Around the Sun, like around the Earth, there is its own atmosphere. The outer part of the solar atmosphere, consisting of hot ionized hydrogen plasma, is called the solar corona. And if on the surface of the Sun the temperature is approximately 10,000 K, then due to the flow of energy coming from its interior, the temperature of the corona reaches 1.5–2 million K. Since the density of the corona is low, such heating is not balanced by the loss of energy due to radiation.
In 1957, University of Chicago professor E. Parker published his hypothesis that the solar corona is not in hydrostatic equilibrium, but is continuously expanding. In this case, a significant part of the solar radiation is a more or less continuous outflow of plasma, the so-called sunny wind, which carries away excess energy. That is, the solar wind is a continuation of the solar corona.
It took two years for this prediction to be confirmed experimentally using instruments installed on the Soviet Luna 2 and Luna 3 spacecraft. Later it turned out that the solar wind carries away from the surface of our star, in addition to energy and information, about a million tons of matter per second. It contains mainly protons, electrons, some helium nuclei, oxygen, silicon, sulfur, nickel, chromium and iron ions.
In 2001, the Americans launched into orbit the Genesis spacecraft, created to study the solar wind. Having flown more than one and a half million kilometers, the device approached the so-called Lagrange point, where the gravitational influence of the Earth is balanced gravitational forces Sun, and deployed his solar wind particle traps there. In 2004, the capsule containing the collected particles crashed to the ground, contrary to the planned soft landing. The particles were “washed” and photographed.
To date, observations made from Earth satellites and other spacecraft show that interplanetary space is filled with an active medium - the flow of solar wind, which originates in the upper layers of the solar atmosphere.
When flares occur on the Sun, streams of plasma and magnetic plasma formations - plasmoids - fly out from it through sunspots (coronal holes) - areas in the solar atmosphere with a magnetic field open into interplanetary space. This flow moves from the Sun with significant acceleration, and if at the base of the corona the radial speed of particles is several hundred m/s, then near the Earth it reaches 400–500 km/s.
Reaching the Earth, the solar wind causes changes in its ionosphere, magnetic storms, which significantly affects biological, geological, mental and even historical processes. The great Russian scientist A.L. Chizhevsky wrote about this at the beginning of the 20th century, who, since 1918 in Kaluga, conducted experiments in the field of air ionization for three years and came to the conclusion: negatively charged plasma ions have a beneficial effect on living organisms, and positively charged plasma ions have a beneficial effect on living organisms. act opposite. In those distant times, there were 40 years left before the discovery and study of the solar wind and the Earth’s magnetosphere!
Plasmoids are present in the Earth's biosphere, including in the dense layers of the atmosphere and near its surface. In his book “Biosphere” V.I. Vernadsky was the first to describe the mechanism of the surface shell, finely coordinated in all its manifestations. Without the biosphere there would be no globe, because, according to Vernadsky, the Earth is “molded” by the Cosmos with the help of the biosphere. “Molded” through the use of information, energy and matter. “Essentially, the biosphere can be considered as a region earth's crust, occupied by transformers(emphasis added - Auto.), converting cosmic radiation into effective earthly energy - electrical, chemical, thermal, mechanical, etc.” (9). It was the biosphere, or the “geological-forming force of the planet,” as Vernadsky called it, that began to change the structure of the cycle of matter in nature and “create new forms and organizations of inert and living matter.” It is likely that, speaking about transformers, Vernadsky spoke about plasmoids, about which at that time they knew nothing at all.
The solar-plasmoid hypothesis explains the role of plasmoids in the origin of life and intelligence on Earth. On early stages evolution, plasmoids could become a kind of active “crystallization centers” for denser and colder molecular structures early earth. “Dressing” in relatively cold and dense molecular clothing, becoming a kind of internal “energy cocoons” of emerging biochemical systems, they at the same time acted as control centers complex system, directing evolutionary processes towards the formation of living organisms (10). MNIIKA scientists also came to a similar conclusion, who managed to achieve the materialization of uneven ethereal flows under experimental conditions.
The aura that sensitive physical devices detect around biological objects, apparently represents the outer part of the plasmoid “energy cocoon” of a living creature. It can be assumed that energy channels and biologically active points of oriental medicine are the internal structures of the “energy cocoon”.
The source of plasmoid life for the Earth is the Sun, and the streams of the solar wind bring us this life principle.
What is the source of plasmoid life for the Sun? To answer this question, it is necessary to assume that life at any level does not arise “on its own”, but is introduced from a more global, highly organized, rarefied and energetic system. Just as for the Earth the Sun is a “maternal system,” so for the luminary there must be a similar “maternal system” (11).
According to Ulyanovsk scientist B.A. Solomin, the “mother system” for the Sun could be interstellar plasma, hot hydrogen clouds, nebulae containing magnetic fields, as well as relativistic (that is, moving at a speed close to the speed of light) electrons. A large number of rarefied and very hot (millions of degrees) plasma and relativistic electrons, structured by magnetic fields, fill the galactic corona - the sphere in which the flat stellar disk of our Galaxy is enclosed. Global galactic plasmoid and relativistic electron clouds, the level of organization of which is incommensurable with the solar one, give rise to plasmoid life on the Sun and other stars. Thus, the galactic wind serves as the carrier of plasmoid life for the Sun.
What is the “mother system” for galaxies? Scientists pay a large role to ultralights in the formation of the global structure of the Universe. elementary particles- a neutrino, literally penetrating space in all directions at speeds close to the speed of light. It was neutrino inhomogeneities, clumps, and clouds that could serve as the “frameworks” or “crystallization centers” around which galaxies and their clusters formed in the early Universe. Neutrino clouds are an even more subtle and energetic level of matter than the stellar and galactic “mother systems” of cosmic life described above. They could well be the designers of evolution for the latter.
Let us finally rise to the very high level consideration - to the level of our Universe as a whole, which arose about 20 billion years ago. Studying her global structure, scientists have established that galaxies and their clusters are located in space not chaotically or evenly, but in a very definite way. They are concentrated along the walls of huge spatial “honeycombs”, which contain, as was believed until the recent past, gigantic “voids” - voids. However, today it is already known that “voids” do not exist in the Universe. It can be assumed that everything is filled with a “special substance”, the carrier of which is the primary torsion fields. This “special substance”, which represents the basis of all life functions, may well be for our Universe that World Architect, Cosmic Consciousness, Supreme Intelligence, which gives meaning to its existence and the direction of evolution.
If this is so, then already at the moment of its birth our Universe was alive and intelligent. Life and intelligence do not arise independently in some cold molecular oceans on planets, they are inherent in the cosmos. Space is saturated various forms life, sometimes strikingly different from the protein-nucleic acid systems we are used to and incomparable with them in their complexity and degree of intelligence, space-time scale, energy and mass.
It is rarefied and hot matter that directs the evolution of denser and colder matter. This appears to be a fundamental law of nature. Cosmic life hierarchically descends from the mysterious matter of voids to neutrino clouds, the intergalactic medium, and from them to galactic nuclei and galactic coronas in the form of relativistic electronic and plasma magnetic structures, then to interstellar space, to stars and, finally, to planets . Cosmic intelligent life creates in its own image and likeness all local forms of life and controls their evolution (10).
Along with well-known conditions (temperature, pressure, chemical composition etc.) for the emergence of life, the planet must have a pronounced magnetic field, which not only protects living molecules from deadly radiation, but also creates around it a concentration of solar-galactic plasmoid life in the form of radiation belts. Of all the planets solar system(except for the Earth) only Jupiter has a strong magnetic field and large radiation belts. Therefore, there is some certainty of the presence of molecular intelligent life on Jupiter, although perhaps of a non-protein nature.
WITH high degree It is possible to assume that all processes on the young Earth did not proceed chaotically or independently, but were directed by highly organized plasmoid designers of evolution. The current hypothesis of the origin of life on Earth also recognizes the need for the presence of certain plasma factors, namely powerful lightning discharges in the atmosphere of the early Earth.
Not only the birth, but also the further evolution of protein-nucleic acid systems occurred in close interaction with plasmoid life with the latter playing a directing role. This interaction became more and more subtle over time, rising to the level of the psyche, soul, and then the spirit of increasingly complex living organisms. The spirit and soul of living and intelligent beings is a very thin plasma matter of solar and earthly origin.
It has been established that plasmoids living in the Earth's radiation belts (mainly of solar and galactic origin) can descend along the lines of the Earth's magnetic field into the lower layers of the atmosphere, especially at those points where these lines most intensively intersect the Earth's surface, namely in the regions of the magnetic poles (north and south).
In general, plasmoids are extremely widespread on Earth. They may have a high degree of organization and show some signs of life and intelligence. Soviet and American expeditions to the southern region magnetic pole in the middle of the 20th century, they encountered unusual luminous objects floating in the air and behaving very aggressively towards members of the expedition. They were called the plasmasaurs of Antarctica.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the registration of plasmoids not only on Earth, but also in nearby space has increased significantly. These are balls, stripes, circles, cylinders, poorly formed luminous spots, ball lightning etc. Scientists were able to divide all objects into two large groups. These are, first of all, objects that have distinct signs of known physical processes, but in them these signs are presented in a completely unusual combination. Another group of objects, on the contrary, has no analogies with the known ones physical phenomena, and therefore their properties are generally inexplicable on the basis of existing physics.
It is worth noting the existence of plasmoids of terrestrial origin, born in fault zones where active geological processes take place. Interesting in this regard is Novosibirsk, which stands on active faults and, in connection with this, has a special electromagnetic structure above the city. All glows and flashes recorded over the city gravitate towards these faults and are explained by vertical energy imbalance and space activity.
The largest number of luminous objects is observed in the central region of the city, located in an area where concentrations of technical energy sources and faults in the granite massif coincide.
For example, in March 1993, near the dormitory of the Novosibirsk State pedagogical university a disk-shaped object about 18 meters in diameter and 4.5 meters thick was observed. A crowd of schoolchildren chased this object, which slowly drifted above the ground for 2.5 kilometers. The schoolchildren tried to throw stones at him, but they were deflected before reaching the object. Then the children began to run under the object and amuse themselves by having their hats thrown off as their hair stood on end from the electrical voltage. Finally, this object flew out onto the high-voltage transmission line, without deviating anywhere, flew along it, gained speed and luminosity, turned into a bright ball and went up (12).
Of particular note is the appearance of luminous objects in experiments conducted by Novosibirsk scientists in Kozyrev’s mirrors. Thanks to the creation of left-right rotating torsion flows due to rotating light flows in the windings of the laser thread and cones, scientists were able to simulate the information space of the planet with the plasmoids that appeared in it in Kozyrev’s mirror. It was possible to study the influence of the emerging luminous objects on cells, and then on the person himself, as a result of which confidence in the correctness of the solar-plasmoid hypothesis was strengthened. The belief has emerged that not only the birth, but also the further evolution of protein-nucleic acid systems proceeded and continues to occur in close interaction with plasmoid life with the guiding role of highly organized plasmoids.
This text is an introductory fragment.The atmosphere of the Sun is 90% hydrogen. Its part farthest from the surface is called the solar corona; it is clearly visible at full solar eclipses. The temperature of the corona reaches 1.5-2 million K, and the corona gas is completely ionized. At this plasma temperature, the thermal speed of protons is about 100 km/s, and that of electrons is several thousand kilometers per second. To overcome solar gravity, an initial speed of 618 km/s is sufficient, the second cosmic speed of the Sun. Therefore, plasma constantly leaks from the solar corona into space. This flow of protons and electrons is called the solar wind.
Having overcome the gravity of the Sun, solar wind particles fly along straight trajectories. The speed of each particle almost does not change with distance, but it can be different. This speed depends mainly on the state of the solar surface, on the “weather” on the Sun. On average it is equal to v ≈ 470 km/s. The solar wind travels the distance to Earth in 3-4 days. In this case, the density of particles in it decreases in inverse proportion to the square of the distance to the Sun. At a distance equal to the radius of the earth's orbit, 1 cm 3 on average there are 4 protons and 4 electrons.
The solar wind reduces the mass of our star - the Sun - by 10 9 kg per second. Although this number seems large on an earthly scale, in reality it is small: the loss of solar mass can only be noticed over times that are thousands of times greater than the modern age of the Sun, which is approximately 5 billion years.
The interaction of the solar wind with the magnetic field is interesting and unusual. It is known that charged particles usually move in a magnetic field H in a circle or along helical lines. This is true, however, only when the magnetic field is strong enough. More precisely, for charged particles to move in a circle, it is necessary that the energy density of the magnetic field H 2 /8π be greater than the kinetic energy density of the moving plasma ρv 2 /2. In the solar wind the situation is the opposite: the magnetic field is weak. Therefore, charged particles move in straight lines, and the magnetic field is not constant, it moves along with the flow of particles, as if carried away by this flow to the periphery of the Solar system. The direction of the magnetic field throughout interplanetary space remains the same as it was on the surface of the Sun at the moment the solar wind plasma emerged.
When traveling along the equator of the Sun, the magnetic field usually changes its direction 4 times. The sun rotates: points on the equator complete a revolution in T = 27 days. Therefore, the interplanetary magnetic field is directed in spirals (see figure), and the entire pattern of this figure rotates following the rotation of the solar surface. The angle of rotation of the Sun changes as φ = 2π/T. The distance from the Sun increases with the speed of the solar wind: r = vt. Hence the equation of the spirals in Fig. has the form: φ = 2πr/vT. At a distance of the earth's orbit (r = 1.5 10 11 m), the angle of inclination of the magnetic field to the radius vector is, as can be easily verified, 50°. On average, this angle is measured spaceships, but not quite close to Earth. Near the planets, the magnetic field is structured differently (see Magnetosphere).
It can be used not only as a propulsion device for space sailing ships, but also as a source of energy. The most famous use of the solar wind in this capacity was first proposed by Freeman Dyson, who suggested that a highly developed civilization could create a sphere around a star that would collect all the energy it emitted. Based on this, another method of searching for extraterrestrial civilizations was also proposed.
Meanwhile, a team of researchers at the University of Washington (Washington State University), led by Brooks Harrop, proposed a more practical concept for using solar wind energy - the Dyson-Harrop satellites. They are quite simple power plants, collecting electrons from the solar wind. A long metal rod pointed at the sun is energized to generate a magnetic field that will attract electrons. At the other end is an electron trap receiver consisting of a sail and a receiver.
According to Harrop's calculations, a satellite with a 300-meter rod, 1 cm thick and a 10-meter trap in Earth orbit will be able to “collect” up to 1.7 MW. This is enough to power approximately 1,000 private homes. The same satellite, but with a kilometer-long rod and a sail of 8400 kilometers, will be able to “collect” 1 billion billion gigawatts of energy (10 27 W). All that remains is to transfer this energy to Earth in order to abandon all other types of it.
Harrop's team proposes to transmit energy using a laser beam. However, if the design of the satellite itself is quite simple and quite feasible at the current level of technology, then the creation of a laser “cable” is still technically impossible. The fact is that in order to effectively collect solar wind, the Dyson-Harrop satellite must lie outside the ecliptic plane, which means it is located millions of kilometers from the Earth. At this distance, the laser beam will produce a spot thousands of kilometers in diameter. An adequate focusing system will require a lens from 10 to 100 meters in diameter. In addition, many dangers from possible system failures cannot be excluded. On the other hand, energy is also required in space itself, and small Dyson-Harrop satellites may well become its main source, replacing solar panels and nuclear reactors.
Imagine that you heard the words of a weather forecast announcer: “Tomorrow the wind will increase sharply. In this regard, interruptions in the operation of radio, mobile communications and the Internet are possible. Shipping to USA delayed space mission. Intense auroras are expected in northern Russia...”
You will be surprised: what nonsense, what does the wind have to do with it? But the fact is that you missed the beginning of the forecast: “Yesterday night there was a flare on the Sun. A powerful stream of solar wind is moving towards the Earth...”
Ordinary wind is the movement of air particles (molecules of oxygen, nitrogen and other gases). A stream of particles also rushes from the Sun. It is called the solar wind. If you don’t delve into hundreds of cumbersome formulas, calculations and heated scientific debates, then, in general, the picture seems like this.
There are thermonuclear reactions going on inside our star, heating up this huge ball of gases. The temperature of the outer layer, the solar corona, reaches a million degrees. This causes the atoms to move so fast that when they collide, they smash each other to pieces. It is known that heated gas tends to expand and occupy a larger volume. Something similar is happening here. Particles of hydrogen, helium, silicon, sulfur, iron and other substances scatter in all directions.
They gain increasing speed and reach near-Earth boundaries in about six days. Even if the sun was calm, the speed of the solar wind here reaches 450 kilometers per second. Well, when a solar flare spews out a huge fiery bubble of particles, their speed can reach 1200 kilometers per second! And the “breeze” cannot be called refreshing - about 200 thousand degrees.
Can a person feel the solar wind?
Indeed, since a stream of hot particles is constantly rushing, why don’t we feel how it “blows” us? Let's say the particles are so small that the skin does not feel their touch. But they are not noticed by earthly instruments either. Why?
Because the Earth is protected from solar vortices by its magnetic field. The flow of particles seems to flow around it and rush on. Only on days when solar emissions are especially powerful does our magnetic shield have a hard time. A solar hurricane breaks through it and bursts into the upper atmosphere. Alien particles cause . The magnetic field is sharply deformed, weather forecasters talk about “magnetic storms.” 
They're getting out of control space satellites. Airplanes disappear from radar screens. Radio waves are interfered with and communications are disrupted. On such days, satellite dishes are turned off, flights are canceled, and “communication” with spacecraft is interrupted. In power grids, railway rails, pipelines, a electricity. As a result, traffic lights switch on their own, gas pipelines rust, and disconnected electrical appliances burn out. Plus, thousands of people feel discomfort and illness.
The cosmic effects of the solar wind can be detected not only during solar flares: although it is weaker, it blows constantly.
It has long been noted that the tail of a comet grows as it approaches the Sun. It causes the frozen gases that form the comet's nucleus to evaporate. And the solar wind carries these gases away in the form of a plume, always directed in the direction opposite to the Sun. This is how the earth's wind turns the smoke from the chimney and gives it one shape or another.
During years of increased activity, the Earth's exposure to galactic cosmic rays drops sharply. The solar wind gains such strength that it simply sweeps them to the outskirts of the planetary system.
There are planets that have a very weak magnetic field, or even none at all (for example, on Mars). There’s nothing stopping the solar wind from running wild here. Scientists believe that it was he who, over hundreds of millions of years, almost “blew out” its atmosphere from Mars. Because of this, the orange planet lost sweat and water and, possibly, living organisms.
Where does the solar wind die down?
Nobody knows the exact answer yet. Particles fly to the outskirts of the Earth, gaining speed. Then it gradually falls, but the wind seems to reach the farthest corners of the solar system. Somewhere there it weakens and is slowed down by rarefied interstellar matter.
So far, astronomers cannot say exactly how far away this occurs. To answer, you need to catch particles, flying further and further from the Sun until they stop coming across. By the way, the limit where this happens can be considered the boundary of the Solar system. 
Spacecraft that are periodically launched from our planet are equipped with solar wind traps. In 2016, solar wind flows were captured on video. Who knows if he won’t become as familiar a “character” in weather reports as our old friend – the earth’s wind?
