Science Earths magnetic field inversions

[Urwumpe]

Maybe a very strong radio transmitter at the geographic north pole, or something like that?

Only works with line of sight - if you use long wave radio, that reflects from the ionosphere, you get the problem that the signals must not always take the shortest path to you.

 

[Wishbone]

long wave => short wave. long waves hug the earth...

 

[Urwumpe]

long wave => short wave. long waves hug the earth...

In range, but as I have written above, if you want to determine the source of a long wave radio signal, the ionosphere can deceive you.

 

[Grover]

woah, one day at college and already a whole page!

personally, i think it could cause quite a bit of trouble if the poles of the earth got "mixed up", the cosmic radiation mentioned a while back might be able to make it to the turface if the magnetic field doesnt deflect it enough, and that will be a HUGE problem for us.

not to mention space travel, theres nothying to stop the cosmic rays hitting satalites (that im aware of anyhow), it could be thousands of years before we get our first real DG to the moon

 

[Urwumpe]

personally, i think it could cause quite a bit of trouble if the poles of the earth got "mixed up", the cosmic radiation mentioned a while back might be able to make it to the surface if the magnetic field doesnt deflect it enough, and that will be a HUGE problem for us.

No. It won't. Otherwise, life would be badly in trouble every other million years, which never happened - in reality, such radiation would ionize the upper atmosphere (Aurora!) and create currents that induce a weaker secondary magnetic field, that is capable of keeping most radiation from the surface.

Also, most cosmic radiation is not affected at all by the magnetic field, only charged particles (alpha, beta and proton radiation). Of these, only the proton radiation has a tiny chance of reaching the surface currently. Most times, people talk about cosmic radiation, they actually mean secondary radiation produced by collisions of such radiation with the atmosphere (X-Rays and Gamma Rays).

When imagining end of the world scenarios, always remember that we are still here, so the ordinary events can be ruled out without extraordinary assistance.

 

[Grover]

the end of the world will probably be nukes anyway, i dont think we have to worry about the earths magnetic field so much

 

[Urwumpe]

the end of the world will probably be nukes anyway, i dont think we have to worry about the earths magnetic field so much

Well, we have already exploded as many nuclear weapons during tests, as we have officially in storage today. I doubt it will be the end of the world... maybe the end of innocence.

 

[Grover]

nah, look at international relations at the moment ([cough!] korea) and you tell me that we arent experiencing a little anarchy. then imagine water shortages, climate change and the desperate measures that nations will take to secure essential resources (water, food etc). itll be Fallout* in the next 200 years

*[the game ]