2006-07-01 19:26:53 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Other - Science
I bet it'd be rough on the computers!
The earth's magnetic field is currently weakening, but I don't believe that there is any evidence that means it's about to reverse. The periods between reversals we've been able to document by magnetic alignment of rock have varied considerably.
I don't believe that we know enough to say whether it will happen slowly or quickly. Nor do we seem to know why it reverses.
But according to one NASA document, maybe we could watch the northern lights in Tahiti. (1)
2006-07-01 20:02:14 · answer #1 · answered by LazlaHollyfeld 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The geological record proves that over billions of years the Earth has had different polarities (the reverse of what we know) and more than two magnetic poles (sometimes 4, 6 or 8) at different times. Clearly, the Earth could survive a polar shift.
The question is, would we? During 6,000+ years of human civiliation, the poles have remained as they are. Would the Chinese and other nations have been able to use the compass if there were more than two poles? Would explorers of the 15th/16th/17th centuries have been able to travel before the clock was invented?
2006-07-02 04:33:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The earth's magnetic poles have reversed many
times in the past. There does not seem to have
been any very significant effect except that the
magnetic particles in newly formed volcanic rocks
point in a different direction after the reversal. It
was the discovery of this difference in rocks that
helped establish the truth of continental drift and
what is now called plate tectonics.
2006-07-03 09:06:02 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the magnetic poles on our planet suddenly reversed, everything would be affected.
The climate would change drastically, the ocean tide would change, not to mention the weather would change as well
2006-07-01 19:32:57 · answer #4 · answered by afjrotcs_finest 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The change would affect the earth's magnetic fields and those items / organisms which rely on them for navigation. Compasses would point south instead of north. Air and sea navigation systems would be disrupted. The disruption of the magnetic fields would likely affect electronic devices as well.
Animals which appear to be able to use the earth's magnetic field for migration would suffer disorientation.
2006-07-01 20:01:17 · answer #5 · answered by Raymond C 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Collapsed?
2006-07-01 19:29:53 · answer #6 · answered by dewdropinn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People are wrong, it happens quite suddenly. Bad stuff would happen.
2006-07-01 19:35:52 · answer #7 · answered by Tony, ya feel me? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it doesnt happen suddenly, it happens over thousands of years
we would have to turn all our maps upside down...
2006-07-01 19:30:17 · answer #8 · answered by Mac Momma 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
nothing would happen u know they keep on changing but after a lot of time gap....
2006-07-01 19:32:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
World would turn inside out...
2006-07-01 19:31:48 · answer #10 · answered by Indigo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋