Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘Thunderstorms churn up a ‘boiling pot’ of high-energy gamma rays’ 

A plane flies over the tops of thunderclouds that are glowing purple.

A thunderstorm, viewed from an airplane soaring above the clouds, glows in gamma rays. They’re purple in this illustration, but invisible to the human eye.

The ALOFT team/Mount Visual (CC BY 4.0)

By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘Thunderstorms churn up a ‘boiling pot’ of high-energy gamma rays‘

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

  1. Electromagnetic radiation (EMR) is energy that travels through the universe at the speed of light. We can see some types of EMR — called visible light — with our eyes. But the spectrum of EMR is vast, and most of it invisible to human eyes. Gamma rays are one example. Read this 16-sentence article, then come up with a simple, one-sentence definition of gamma rays. Finally, use what you’ve learned to speculate what Earth might look like today if its atmosphere did not serve as a shield against this kind of energy. Explain your reasoning. 
  2. EMR is measured in wavelengths. For information on that, check out this explainer. Sketch a picture to illustrate wavelength differences between three EMR types: gamma rays, radio waves and visible light. In one sentence, summarize the relationship between wavelength and energy. In your picture, point out which type of EMR has the highest energy. 

During Reading:

  1. What new type of gamma-ray blast did researchers find in this study? Besides gamma-ray “glows,” what other type of gamma-ray outburst did scientists know about before conducting this study?  
  2. Contrast the brightness of these two previously known gamma-ray types.  
  3. Compare the brightness and duration of the newfound gamma-ray emissions with the two previously known types. To what did the author compare the new gamma-ray emissions?
  4. After conducting the new study, what misconception did scientists correct about gamma-ray glows?
  5. Describe at least one aspect of the study’s experimental design that is mentioned in the article. 
  6. What are electrons and what is their role in gamma-ray outbursts?
  7. What evidence led scientists to conclude that past satellite data might have underestimated the frequency of some gamma-ray outbursts?  
  8. What fundamental electrical phenomena do scientists hope might be explained by better understanding flickering gamma-ray bursts?  

After Reading:

  1. Many mysteries remain to be solved when it comes to weather phenomena. Point out one example of an unsolved weather-related mystery mentioned in this story. Consider how conducting experiments to investigate weather-related phenomena might come with unique challenges. Describe two obstacles that might make studying the mystery you’ve described above difficult.