General Studies I: Geography 2024 [250 words, 15 marks]
| What is /are in question implies inquiry about the nature of an object.How in question implies that the answer should focus on how and why, arrange your answer in a sequence of events explaining how and why. |
Answer Structure:
- Introduction: What Is an Aurora
- Body: What triggers Aurora
- Conclusion: Colours of an aurora
Answer
Introduction
What Is an Aurora?
- Auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of light. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras.
- In the North Pole, it is called an aurora borealis or northern lights. In the South Pole, it is called an aurora australis or the southern lights.
- Auroras can occur on planets and moons with atmospheres.
Body
What triggers Aurora?
Auroras are a natural phenomenon resulting from the interaction between the Sun and Earth’s atmosphere.
The Sun emits a powerful solar wind, which carries approximately one million tons of extremely hot plasma—composed of electrons, protons, and other particles—into space every second.
Earth’s magnetosphere serves as a protective shield, deflecting most of this continuous solar wind away from our planet.
However, during solar storms, such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections, a significant volume of plasma is propelled through space at high speeds as part of the solar wind. When this surge of solar energy collides with Earth’s magnetosphere, some of the electrically charged particles descend along strong magnetic field lines to the North and South Poles, becoming trapped within Earth’s atmosphere. These particles oscillate between the poles, transferring energy to atmospheric molecules as they travel. The vibrant, glowing lights of the aurora emerge when these energised molecules release their excess energy.
Conclusion
An aurora can appear in a variety of colours. The colour of an aurora depends on the type of gas that is hit. Oxygen produces green and red hues, while nitrogen emits blue and purple glows.
(The model answer provided by us strictly follows the word limit, the above answer is compiled in 268 words.)
Practicing answers sticking to the word limit will aid the aspirants to write answers precisely and to the point avoiding unnecessary things.
(Titles introduction, body and conclusion are just for reference, aspirants should not write these titles in the answer sheet.)