Transcription of Sunspot cycles 8 - NASA - IMAGE Science Center
1 The Sun is an active star thatgoes through cycles of highand low activity . Scientistsmark these changes bycounting sunspots . Thenumbers of spots increase anddecrease about every 11years in what scientists call theSunspot activity will let youinvestigate how many yearstypically elapse between thesunspot cycles . Is the cyclereally, exactly 11-years long?Scientists study many phenomena that run in cycles . The Sun provides anumber of such 'natural rhythms' in the solar system. Sequences ofnumbers often havemaximum andminimum valuesthat 's how to do it!
2 Consider the following measurements takenevery 5 minutes: 100, 200, 300, 200, 100, 200, 300, 2001. There are two maxima (value '300').2. The maxima are separated by 4 The cycle has a period of 4 x 5 = 20 The pairs of minima (value = 100) are alsoseparated by this same period of you try!The Sunspot cycle between 1994 and 2008 YearNumberYearNumber20001251996919901461 9861419801541976131969106196410195719019 5441947152194410193711419336192878192361 9171041913119056319013189385188961883641 8793187017018677 This table gives the Sunspot numbers for pairsof maximums and minimums in the ) From the solar maximum data, calculatethe number of years between each pair ) From the solar minimum data, calculatethe number of years between each pair ) What is the average time between solarmaxima?
3 4) What is the average time between solarminima?5) Combining the answers to #3 and #4, whatis the average Sunspot cycle length?Solar Maximum | Solar Minimum8 Sunspot NumbersSunspot cyclesMore about Sunspot cycles .
