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What happens to electrons in the outer magnetosphere?

I know that the outer radiation belt gathers charged particles from the solar wind but how do these charged particles affect Earth at the ground level or do they?

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  • 1 decade ago
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    Particles trapped in the radiation belts get swept toward either of the magnetic poles, north or south, depending on their charge. There they collide with atoms in the atmosphere at high altitude, which makes for a pretty light show we call an aurora.

    They pose little danger to us because, a) this only happens at extreme latitudes where people normally don't live anyways, and b) the collisions in the atmosphere absorb most of the particles before they reach the surface.

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