TSHRC Debunks Video and Solar Storm

News Bites

Hey you guys, get ready for another episode of News Bites. I'm Jacob Ingram. And I'm Nancy Sun. In today's news: Taiwan High Speed Rail Company debunks a video about the dangers of using umbrellas on train platforms, and the first 'extreme' solar storm in 20 years lights up the sky! … And today's Tasty Tidbit is about the size of the Sun! Stay tuned for more on those stories, coming up next. _______________________________ 網傳雨天月台撐傘會觸電 高鐵闢謠 THSRC Debunks Video about Dangers of Using Umbrellas on Train Platforms Recently a video has been circulating on the internet. The video claims that people who hold up umbrellas (撐雨傘) on rainy days while standing on train platforms could be electrocuted (觸電). 影片聲稱，雨天時站在火車月台上撐雨傘的人可能會觸電。 It even mentioned that people could be "sucked" into the overhead wires above the trains. 影片甚至提到，人們可能會被吸進火車上方的高壓電線中。 This is, of course, not true. Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corporation has officially refuted (反駁) the video. THSRC said it's an old video that first appeared on a Chinese social media platform in 2016. It was filmed at a high-speed railway station in China and has simplified Chinese (簡體字). Despite being debunked in the past, the video sometimes re-emerges online. 雖然這部影片以前已經被駁斥，但它有時候會又出現在網路上。 THSRC clarified that passengers are safe so long as they stand behind the yellow line on the platform, even if they are holding umbrellas. 只要是乘客站在黃線後面，就沒事了，不管有沒有撐雨傘。 However, the company acknowledges (承認) if objects are held too close to the wires over the platform, there is a risk of electric shock. Therefore, passengers are reminded not to bring long objects within a 2 meter-meter radius (半徑) of the wires. The overhead electric wires are usually 5 meters away from the platform. As long as passengers don't climb on top of trains, they should be safe. This applies to all train stations in Taiwan. Over the past twenty years, there were a few incidents of people getting electrocuted by overhead electric train wires. But these were all isolated incidents. 這些意外都是因為個人行為而發生的。 Last year, a man was electrocuted at a railroad crossing. He was carrying a fishing rod that was 5 meters long. The rod came in contact with the wires and he was electrocuted. In 2020, a man climbed onto a train at a station in Taichung. He touched the wires when he stood up and was electrocuted. Both men were hospitalized, and they both recovered. So long as people don't do anything foolish when taking the train, it's a safe way to travel. ________________________________ 二十年來最強太陽風暴 照亮夜空 First Extreme Solar Storm in 20 Years Lights up the Sky Have you seen aurorae (極光) before? They are beautiful dancing ribbons of green, red and purple light that appear in the sky. The lights are actually caused by solar storms (太陽風暴) from the sun. To understand how it works, we'll have to talk a bit about everyone's favorite subject: Physics! So, our planet Earth is like a giant magnet (磁鐵). It has a magnetic field (磁場). When a solar storm approaches Earth, some of the energy and small particles (粒子) goes along the magnetic field lines at the North and South Poles into the atmosphere (大氣層). These particles then interact with gases in the Earth's atmosphere, creating the beautiful lights. Aurorae are usually seen near the poles (極地). For example, parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Canada and Russia. But during this month, the lights appeared in unexpected places (出現在意想不到的地方). They were seen in the northern part of countries like the UK, Germany, China, America and even Japan. In the southern hemisphere (南半球), the lights were also visible in parts of New Zealand and Australia. Why were the lights seen in these places? This is because the solar storm that struck the Earth was the strongest in 20 years. Beautiful as it seems, it can be quite dangerous. Solar storms can cause changes to the Earth's magnetic field and induce currents (引發電流) in power lines. This might disrupt communications and GPS systems. 這可能會破壞通訊和全球定位系統。 Many farmers complained of problems in their tractors' GPS systems. 有些農夫說他們的聯結機全球定位系統變得怪怪的，不能使用。 The last time a storm like this happened was in October 2003. It caused blackouts (停電) in Sweden and damaged power infrastructure (電力設施) in South Africa. Nature truly is beautiful and dangerous at the same time. ________________________________ So, in today's News Bites: Taiwan High Speed Rail Company debunked a video which claimed using umbrellas on train platforms was dangerous. Overhead power lines above train tracks are too far away for normal umbrellas to reach. Therefore, so long as passengers use common sense, keeping a safe distance from platform edges, there's no need to worry. ________________________________ And, The first 'extreme' solar storm in 20 years lights up skies in many unusual places around the world. Aurorae are caused by solar storms from the Sun. They are usually seen near the poles. But because the storm was so intense, lots of countries saw them, including Japan and even Australia and New Zealand. Although beautiful, they can cause blackouts and damage power lines. ________________________________ And in today's Tasty Tidbit: Did you know the Sun is the largest object in our solar system? It's 100 times wider than the Earth. It's also 10 times larger than our solar system's largest planet: Jupiter. ________________________________ And that's it for today's episode of News Bites! If you have a fun fact, a joke or interesting news story you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to [e-mail], and you might hear it at the end of an episode. We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!