OT: Earth's orbit changing?

[Nodachi]

Originally posted by Oleg:
It will not be that bad. Even at the most extreme of the magnetic field flipping, the residual magnetic field will be strong enough to keep us safe. At worst, radiation will be like in polar regions today. All this stuff is good for scare stories in media but is in fact pretty harmless.

Oleg, I beg to differ. The Earth's magnetic field is the only thing that protects us from solar flares. Let us get hit by an X-class flare while the field is down, or even weakened, and it'll be a very different planet indeed.

[Atrocities]

I am already depressed enough, I would rather not think about getting hit by an X-flare.

Avet your eyes if you are easily offended by comment about God.

Why would God make such a beautiful planet and fill it with living things just to burn it to a cinder?

If the planet was to be burned to a crisp, of course that would fall under the insurance term, act of god.

People say trust in faith, well by my Last count God has racked up an impressive kill score. I think if God were human, he would be tried for genecide, or at the very least, as a mass murdering serial killer.

To think that God would let everything on this planet fry is a testimate to the fact that he is not a good god, not a nice god, but an evil insane creature that feeds off of pain and sufforing.

Of course that is just my depressed opinion at the moment and does not reflect upon how I might feel tomorrow.

[Nodachi]

But Atrocities, maybe he considers us to be a failed creation and that would be his way of wiping the slate clean. Not that I would presume to know the mind of God.

[Taera]

(not a very religious person either, so forgive me if anything)
To jump on the discussion - from that point of view, who said that human is the pinnacle of creation? And you cant trial god for murder, its the only way to get rid of people :roll:

Magnetic fields flip.... it was mentioned in my physics class, can someone elaborate on that for me? Oh, i can go and research it on my own, but from people's thoughts its usually clearer.

[David E. Gervais]

Changing orbit? Failing magnetic shields? omg the "Polar Shift" theory is comming true. It's supposed to happen this year.

..due to the massive wieght accumilated over the centuries at the poles, the earth's crust will slide over it's molten core and the new (physical) north pole will end up in Saudi Arabia.

I remember, about two years ago, I heard about the polar shift theory and did a search on the net for info. I found a link to a site. As I read the article and got to the part where they said the new 'physical' north pole will end up in Suadi Arabia,.. there was a news bulliten on TV saying that it was snowing in Saudi Arabia. (They said that this was an extremely rare occurance) Coincedance? Or was a higher power giving me a clue?

..add to this that this year we have been having record snowfall and rain in december. Adding to the weight deposited in the northern hemisphere.

Interesting food for thought, very interesting.

Cheers!

[oleg]

Originally posted by Nodachi:

quote:

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Originally posted by Oleg:
It will not be that bad. Even at the most extreme of the magnetic field flipping, the residual magnetic field will be strong enough to keep us safe. At worst, radiation will be like in polar regions today. All this stuff is good for scare stories in media but is in fact pretty harmless.

Oleg, I beg to differ. The Earth's magnetic field is the only thing that protects us from solar flares. Let us get hit by an X-class flare while the field is down, or even weakened, and it'll be a very different planet indeed.

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But at no point of time it will disappear completely. Poles flip-flop is like a U-turn on a highway. You do not stop and reverse, you do some sort of imitation of Bond' movies chase. There won't a single moment when Earth has no magnetic field. Instead we will have many poles, some even on equator, some North poles in Southern hemisphere and vise versa. Nothern lights will be seen everywhere but that is it.

Disclaimer: The word "poles" used in this post refer to the physics term, not the citizens of Poland.

[Cipher7071]

What Oleg just said is about the way I understand it. Before a flip the Earth's magnetic field will become more 'patchy.' There will be multiple poles, and plenty of aurorae.

The Earth is a dynamo whose magnetic material is largely liquid. The changes are all supposed to be a result of change in internal flow. Once that evens out, so does the magnetic field. On a geological timescale, it will happen very quickly. As far as we're concerned, it will Last longer, but still not terribly long.

Stock up on sunscreen.

[Kamog]

I never understood this idea of the earth's magnetic poles moving around. How can the magnetic field, which was stable for a long period of time, suddenly reverse polarity? If the magnetic field is produced by the flow of molten material inside the earth, then it takes a tremendous amount of energy to change the direction of flow for so much mass. Where does this energy come from? Also, I thought that a flow of material will not produce a magnetic field unless there's an electrical current flowing through it. I mean, if you take a piece of iron and move it around where there's no magnetic field, it's not going to produce its own magnetic field, would it?

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Why would God make such a beautiful planet and fill it with living things just to burn it to a cinder?

well, suppose the whole world reverted to human sacrifice? and then went worse. in that case, i think we should fry.

I mean, if you take a piece of iron and move it around where there's no magnetic field, it's not going to produce its own magnetic field, would it?

every atom has it's own magnetic field. i don't know why you can only make a magnet out of ferrous material.

[Phoenix-D]

Originally posted by Kamog:
I never understood this idea of the earth's magnetic poles moving around. How can the magnetic field, which was stable for a long period of time, suddenly reverse polarity? If the magnetic field is produced by the flow of molten material inside the earth, then it takes a tremendous amount of energy to change the direction of flow for so much mass. Where does this energy come from? Also, I thought that a flow of material will not produce a magnetic field unless there's an electrical current flowing through it. I mean, if you take a piece of iron and move it around where there's no magnetic field, it's not going to produce its own magnetic field, would it?

The mouse is right- pretty much everything produces a magnetic field. Its just that in most objects, the fields aren't aligned, so they pull in different directions and cancel each other out effectively. Iron and certain other materials are different in that you can force their fields to all point the way way.

The reason for the fields is electrons. They're moving about the nucleus, and they carry an electric charge. ANY moving charge produces a magnetic field. And vice versa.