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Solar Flares
When electrical circuits get crossed, you often see sparks fly and lots of smoke as the wires become heated. The electricity, carried by electrons in one wire are trying to flow one way, while the electrons from another circuit are trying to flow the opposite way in the same material. This causes the electrons to collide, and instead of an organized smooth flow, it becomes disorganized. The energy of motion (kinetic energy) of the electrons in the currents is transformed into heat energy as nearby atoms in the wire are jostled about. A very similar thing happens on the Sun, but with dramatic consequences that extend clear across the entire solar system!
Sometimes one group of sunspots collides with another like ships floating on the Sun's plasma ocean. Sometimes a brand new sunspot can appear inside one that was already there. If the polarities are the same, nothing much happens. But if they are opposite each other in some area of the Sun's surface, then this can only mean one thing. There must be currents of flowing gas that are moving in opposite directions within the same piece of the Sun's surface.
Because sunspots and the gases around them can flow at thousands of miles a minute, it only takes a few minutes before magnetic conditions can escalate from a minor solar squall to a major explosion of energy. The billions of amperes of current moving in opposite directions through the solar atmosphere release over 1015 (1000 trillion) Joules of energy; more energy than in a thousand hydrogen bombs.
Within 20 minutes, the magnetic field reconnects into a smoother shape to release
the energy, but meanwhile, gas has been heated to millions of degrees and a blast
of x-
Source:NASA
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