1. Earths Changing magnetic field
BY: Witman Capellan
Earths Changing magnetic field

2. What is A magnetic field?
A magnetic field is a force field that is created by moving electric charges(electric current) and magnetic dipoles, and exerts a force on other nearby moving charges and magnetic dipoles. At any given point, it has a direction and a magnitude (or strength), so it is represented by a vector field. 

3. How did the earth obtain a magnetic field?
In the early 1600s William Gilbert published his book “De Magnete” detailing how earth behaves as a giant magnet. In his work, he describes many of his experiments with his model Earth. From these experiments, he concluded that the earth was itself magnetic and that this was the reason compasses point north (previously, some believed that it was the pole star (Polaris) or a large magnetic island on the north pole that attracted the compass). He was the first to argue, correctly, that the center of the Earth was iron, and he considered an important and related property of magnets which was that they can be cut, each forming a new magnet with north and south poles.

4. How did the earth obtain a magnetic field?
About 200 years later Gauss put Gilberts magnetic measurements into a mathematical form showing that the source of earths magnetic field is at or very near the center of the earth.

5. How did earth obtain a magnetic field?
The dynamo theory proposes a mechanism by which a celestial body such as earth or a star generates a magnetic field. The dynamo theory describes the process through which a rotating, convecting, and electrically conducting fluid can maintain a magnetic field over astronomical time scales. A dynamo is thought to be the source of the earth’s magnetic field, as well as the magnetic fields of other planets. Walter Elsasser accepted dynamo theory as an explanation of the Earth's magnetism, he proposed that this magnetic field resulted from electric currents induced in the fluid outer core of the Earth. He revealed the history of the Earth's magnetic field through pioneering the study of the magnetic orientation of minerals in rocks.

6. Why earth’s magnetic field is important?
The Earth's magnetic field serves to deflect most of the solar wind, whose charged particles would otherwise strip away the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation
The Earth’s magnetic field protects us not only from our sun but also different forms of interstellar radiation which get trapped in the earths magnetic fields and later seen as the aroura borealis.

7. It will flip, but how do we know?
Geophysicist have been studying rocks and very old cooled magna which contain minerals that are sensitive to earths magnetic field. By analyzing these rocks it reveals a record of earths magnetic field for over hundreds of thousands of years. Geophysicist have even began to study ancient clay pottery with dating to narrow down the time interval for which we assume earths magnetic field has flipped. This shows that earths magnetic field has already flipped several times before, the last major flip being about 780,000 years ago. Scientist believe that every half million years or so earths magnetic field begins to weaken before eventually reversing completely. No one really knows why but it is thought to be because of a change in the dynamo or earths fluid core. Scientist have found that the earths magnetic field is currently weakening 10 times faster than it normally would suggesting that we could be on the brink of another reversal.

8. The danger of a flipping field
There are no documented catastrophes associated with past reversals which means the whole human race wouldn't just die out but that doesn't mean nothing will happen. As stated earlier the magnetic field produced by the earth protects us from interstellar radiation which means you wouldn't want to be outside to much while the magnetic filed is very weak and bound to flip, because of the increase radiation we would see caner rates go up tremendously and genetic mutations would take place even before the flip occurs. An increase in charged particles entering earth would cause havoc on our whole power gird leaving us powerless, in huge debut, and vast restoration.

9. THE End