Random Thoughts of The Day!

Source

It's funny where our thoughts take us.
I was thinking what I will write about today. I was thinking of doing an article about how easy it is to collect meteorites using your house and a magnet.
For some reason this got me thinking about the magnetic fields of the earth. I had read something a while back about the earth flipping its poles. From somewhere there came a voice that this may all have something to do with the weather and even some other unusual events taking place around our globe. Soon it was like a conversation between a group of people, all interjecting their own ideas! Global warming, climate change, atmospheric particles, gamma rays, atmospheric stripping, cyclones, earthquakes, strange cloud formations, all had to have their voice. Then there was silence.

Putting Some Random Thoughts Together

Source

Yes, it's true. The earths magnetic poles shift on average about every 200,000 years. We are long overdue. The last time the poles shifted was 732,000 years ago!. This was discovered by analyzing lava and its magnetic alignment when it cooled.
What happens when the poles shift?
The earth generates a huge magnetic field that extends for thousands of miles into space and forms a bubble around the planet. It is thought to be created by the huge spinning mass of molten iron inside the interior of our planet.
It is critical to life on earth. Without this bubble the earth would be bombarded by high energy particles. Most of these particles would come from our sun. There would also be gamma rays and cosmic rays coming from interstellar space.
If we lose this shield bad stuff would happen. With no shield everything would die and the atmosphere and the oceans would be stripped away into space and all that would be left would be a planet like mars. That is a worst case scenario.
We know there was life during the last shifts so, therefore, we know it can't be too overly catastrophic. The magnetic field has been weakening over the last couple of centuries. It is down about 10% or so. This usually occurs before a pole shift. How far it will weaken this time, who knows? The magnetic north and south poles are always moving.
When I was born in 1948 the pole was at 73.9° N, 100.9° W. In 2017 it has now passed the Canadian Territorial Claim of 84.9°N 131.0°W and was last seen at 86.5°N 172.6°W in Russia. It has been moving up to 55 km per year.
The biggest problem we may face is communications and electrical grids. If we have a weak magnetic field then more energy hits the planet. This energy can fry our satellites and overload our power grids. Blackouts will be more frequent which also means furnaces with electric motors in the northern climates as well as streetlights, electric stoves, microwave ovens, TV's, computers, tablets, and pretty much 80% of our world can't be trusted to work for us. No more cell phones, internet, wifi, coffee shops, grocery stores, or tap water. It could get bleak.
There will probably be more mutations and deformities along with cancers. You have to understand that although the poles can flip it usually takes about 80 to 100 years so it can be seen in a lifetime. The poles don't always flip and stay put either. Magnetic reading have shown the poles can flip and then flip back very quickly.

Magnetic Fields Between Reversals

Source

The magnetic field is of huge importance to our weather patterns. When we talk about the universe it is good to think of it in terms of energies. The more energy that hits our planet the more damage it can do. It will heat the atmosphere, create more violent storms, and more earthquakes. Snow in the Sahara, flooding, and tsunamis.
Let's just hope it is a good flip and we can all get on with our lives. There is no sense worrying about it. We have no impact on nature at this scale.