Question: because our planet is connected with the sun more than light,i have read that the sun and earth are connected by charged particles that come from the sun.when the sun produces hot gas that travels through space at a million miles per hour when it is carrying the particles there is also, magnetism passing outwards which is i belive passes the planets and is calle dsolar wind.so my question is where does the magnetism come from.you see i think that because you are in space how there can be magnetism.i hope you can answer my question because i enjoy finding out things i have queries on.thank you very much

Martin Archer answered on 9 Mar 2013:

OK I’m going to break your question into two parts:

Firstly, why can we have magnetism in space/a vacuum? An object like a permanant magnetic has a magnetic field around it, that means that other objects (like other magnets or magnetic metals like iron) can feel the magnetic force. Magnetic fields don’t actually need a medium to exist in, unlike for example sound waves which is where the famous “in space no-one can hear you scream” phrase comes from. So in a vacuum you can have magnetic fields!

Secondly, where do the magnetic fields in space come from? You’re right about the solar wind, the Sun can’t keep hold off all its plasma so some charged particles stream off it at high speeds. The Sun like the Earth is a bit like a giant magnet, but the solar wind actually takes some of those magnetic field lines out with it in the plasma. But the magnetic field can also come from the plasma itself, because it’s made of charged particles they can produce electrical currents by moving and this in turn will generate magnetic fields. There are lots of things about the magnetic field in the solar wind and how it can connect to the Earth that we still don’t understand, so scientists make measurements with satellites and compare them with theories and computer simulations.

I hope that helps.