Earth's magnetic

field

Design Problem I
A magnetic field is a field of force produced by
a magnetic object or particle, or by a changing
B y :electrical field and is detected by the force it
exerts on other magnetic materials and
Atif,
moving electric charges. The magnetic field at
A 0 9 0 1any given point is specified by both a direction
and a magnitude (or strength); as such it is a
B . T e c h I n t e r n a t i o n a lvector field…….
CSE
A magnetic field is a field of force produced by a magnetic
object or particle, or by a changing electrical field and is detected
by the force it exerts on other magnetic materials and moving
electric charges. The magnetic field at any given point is specified
by both a direction and a magnitude (or strength); as such it is a
vector field.

The complex mathematics underlying the magnetic field of an

object is usually illustrated using magnetic field lines. These lines
are strictly a mathematical concept and do not exist physically.
Nonetheless, certain physical phenomena, such as the alignment
of iron filings in a magnetic field, produces lines in a similar
pattern to the imaginary magnetic field lines of the object.
Magnets exert forces and torques on each other through the
magnetic fields they create. Electric currents and moving
electrical charges produce magnetic fields. Even the magnetic
field of a magnetic material can be modeled as being due to
moving electrical charges. Magnetic fields also exert forces on
moving electrical charges.

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The magnetic fields within and due to magnetic materials can be
quite complicated and is described using two separate fields
which can be both called a magnetic field: a magnetic B field and
a magnetic H field. Energy is needed to create a magnetic field.
This energy can be reclaimed when the field is destroyed and,
therefore, can be considered as being "stored" in the magnetic
field. The value of this energy depends on the values of both B
and H.

An electric field is a field created by an electrical charge and such

fields are intimately related to magnetic fields; a changing
magnetic field generates an electric field and a changing electric
field produces a magnetic field. (See electromagnetism.) The full
relationship between the electric and magnetic fields, and the
currents and charges that create them, is described by the set of
Maxwell's equations. In view of special relativity, electric and
magnetic fields are two interrelated aspects of a single object,
called the electromagnetic field. A pure electric field in one
reference frame is observed as a combination of both an electric
field and a magnetic field in a moving reference frame. In
quantum physics, this electromagnetic field is understood to be
caused by virtual photons. Most often this quantum description is
not needed because the simpler classical theory is sufficient.

Magnetic fields have had many uses in ancient and modern

society. The Earth produces its own magnetic field, which is
important in navigation since the north pole of a compass points
toward the south pole of Earth's magnetic field, located near the
Earth's geographical north. Rotating magnetic fields are utilized in
both electrical motors and generators. Magnetic forces give
information about the charge carriers in a material through the
Hall effect. The interaction of magnetic fields in electrical devices
such as transformers is studied in the discipline of magnetic
circuits.

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Earth's magnetic field: A sketch of Earth's magnetic field
representing the source of the field as a magnet. The geographic
north pole of Earth is near the top of the diagram, the south pole
near the bottom. The south pole of that magnet is deep in Earth's
interior below Earth's North Magnetic Pole.Main article: Earth's
magnetic field.

The Earth's magnetic field is thought to be produced by

convection currents in the outer liquid of Earth's core. The
Dynamo theory proposes that these movements produce
electrical currents which, in turn, produce the magnetic field.

The presence of this field causes a compass, placed anywhere

within it, to rotate so that the "north pole" of the magnet in the
compass points roughly north, toward Earth's north magnetic
pole. This is the traditional definition of the "north pole" of a
magnet, although other equivalent definitions are also possible.
One confusion that arises from this definition is that, if Earth itself
is considered as a magnet, the south pole of that magnet would

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be the one nearer the north magnetic pole, and vice-versa
(opposite poles attract, so the north pole of the compass magnet
is attracted to the south pole of Earth's interior magnet).

The north magnetic pole is so-named not because of the polarity

of the field there but because of its geographical location. The
north and south poles of a permanent magnet are so-called
because they are "north-seeking" and "south-seeking",
respectively. For most locations, the magnetic field has a
significant up/down component in addition to the North/South
component. (There is also an East/West component; Earth's
magnetic poles do not coincide exactly with Earth's geological
pole.) The magnetic field can be visualised as a bar magnet
buried deep in Earth's interior.

Earth's magnetic field is not constant — the strength of the field

and the location of its poles vary. There is also evidence to
suggest that the poles periodically reverse their orientation in a
process called geomagnetic reversal.

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Importance: Simulation of the interaction between Earth's
magnetic field and the interplanetary magnetic field. Earth is
largely protected from the solar wind, a stream of energetic
charged particles emanating from the Sun, by its magnetic field,
which deflects most of the charged particles. Some of the charged
particles from the solar wind are trapped in the Van Allen
radiation belt. A smaller number of particles from the solar wind
manage to travel, as though on an electromagnetic energy
transmission line, to the Earth's upper atmosphere and
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ionosphere in the auroral zones. The only time the solar wind is
observable on the Earth is when it is strong enough to produce
phenomena such as the aurora and geomagnetic storms. Bright
auroras strongly heat the ionosphere, causing its plasma to
expand into the magnetosphere, increasing the size of the plasma
geosphere, and causing escape of atmospheric matter into the
solar wind. Geomagnetic storms result when the pressure of
plasmas contained inside the magnetosphere is sufficiently large
to inflate and thereby distort the geomagnetic field.

The solar wind is responsible for the overall shape of Earth's

magnetosphere, and fluctuations in its speed, density, direction,
and entrained magnetic field strongly affect Earth's local space
environment. For example, the levels of ionizing radiation and
radio interference can vary by factors of hundreds to thousands;
and the shape and location of the magnetopause and bow shock
wave upstream of it can change by several Earth radii, exposing
geosynchronous satellites to the direct solar wind. These
phenomena are collectively called space weather. The

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mechanism of atmospheric stripping is caused by gas being
caught in bubbles of magnetic field, which are ripped off by solar
winds. Variations in the magnetic field strength have been
correlated to rainfall variation within the tropics.

If the magnetic field of the Earth suddenly changed, and this

DOES happen naturally every 250,000 years or so, the
consequences would be fascinating. For life, we can see from the
fossil record that the past field changes had no significant effect
on living organisms. This is most curious because the field
reversal ( North magnetic pole shifting to Antarctica and the
South magnetic pole shifting to the arctic region in the Northern
Hemisphere) one might expect the field to go to zero strength for
a century or so. This would let cosmic rays freely penetrate to the
Earth's surface and cause mutations. This seems not to have had
much effect in the past, so we probably don't really know what is
going on during these field reversals. There have been a dozen of
them over the last few million years, documented in the rock
which has emerged and solidified along the mid-Atlantic Ridge
where continental plates are slowly separating. These epochs
form parallel bands all along the ridge where the rock has stored
a fossilized image of the local orientation of the Earth's magnetic
field for the last few million years.

Magnetic field wandering would let the aurora borealis occur at

any latitude, but other than that there would be no noticeable
effects other than changes in the amount of cosmic rays that
penetrate to the ground. Even this effect is minimal because we
can visit the Arctic and Antarctic and only receive a slight
increase in cosmic rays. So long as the strength of the field
remains high during this field wandering event, the effects should
be pretty benign.

The Earth's magnetic field is believed to be generated by the

rotation of the Earth's molten iron-nickel core. The period of field
reversal is determined by the rotation rate of the core and its
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electrical conductivity. If you were to change either one of these,
the field orientation, strength and '250,000 year cycle' would be
increased or decreased. We also know from studies of the Sun's
magnetic dynamo, that this phenomenon can change abruptly as
it did during the 'Little Ice Age' on the Earth a few hundred years
ago. There were no sunspots observed on the Sun for 50 years or
so, then rather abruptly, the familiar 11-year cycle started-up
over the course of a few decades. A similar 'chaotic' phenomenon
may occur with the Earth 'suddenly' losing its magnetic field for a
few million years. Already, geophysicists have begun to notice a
decline in the strength of the Earth's magnetic field, suggesting
that the next field reversal epoch may be about to start. It may,
however, take a long time to get here, and we don't really know if
the decline is just a natural, ripple, or the portend of something
far more sinister.

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