• Question: Hi! Could there ever be a giant galactic superwave that could wipe out every computer memory at excactly the same time?

    Asked by topshopprincess to Jen on 19 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Jen Gupta

      Jen Gupta answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      Hey, I’m not quite sure what you mean by a “giant galactic superwave”!

      You might have heard that the Sun is getting more active as it approaches a solar maximum in a couple of years. When the Sun is active, it can ejects loads of energy in what is called a solar flare. If a solar flare has enough energy, it could cause power surges and overload the power grid, resulting in blackouts. This could destroy your computer’s power supply but I don’t think it would do anything to the memory although I’m not entirely sure!

      I’m going to put this question to my friends at uni tomorrow and see if we can come up with a better answer! 😀

Comments