Pictures
Videos SlideshowArticles
Splendour in the sky How to watch Effects of Aurora Borealis Beliefs of indigenous people The Northern Lights in HistoryRelated sites
Effects of Aurora Borealis |
|
|
electrically to the ground. The metallic pipes are good conductors, better than the soil, and electric
currents will preferably flow through the pipes. This will cause corrosion in the joints of the pipes
and shorten the lifetime of the pipelines.
The high voltage power lines in power networks are long and the transformers are well grounded. Often, the high voltage power lines form a net and an efficient receiving antenna for the magnetic fields, which induce extra currents in the power network. The induced currents will cause saturation of transformers, excess voltages and unwanted surges in the network, overheating of the transformers and possible failures. This is how the induced currents can cause disturbances in the protection systems of power networks and possible breaks in the delivery of electric power over |
large areas. The largest failures have been in North America. In the course of one year such phenomena can cause huge financial losses. Much damage was caused by the magnetic storm of 13 March, 1989, when a large part of Canada was left without electric power for many hours. On that occasion, several protection systems failed at the same time. Almost equal damage occurred in September 1989 and in October 1991. The magnetic storm of January 1997 also caused some damage. |
3 / 5
|
|