The Excellent Adventure

HT to Jonathan, more awesome physics-geek stuff about the magnetosphere: The Earth’s magnetic field remains a charged mystery Professor Gregory Ryskin from the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University in Illinois, US, has defied the long-standing convention by applying equations from magnetohydrodynamics to our oceans’ salt water (which conducts electricity) and found [...]

Tags: magnetic field, magnetism, Navigation

No, I don’t mean psychology. Researchers in France have developed a new model of Earth’s magnetic field that includes a simple explanation for why it has flipped direction many times throughout Earth history. Most geophysicists agree that the main component of Earth’s magnetic field is generated by convection currents in the molten iron of the [...]

Tags: Environment, magnetic field, Navigation, solar storms