What effects will the switching of the north ans south pole have on humans?

Question

I know that the magnetic field of earth( North and south poles) will eventually flip. My question is that if they flip, will it be over a week, a year, 10000 years? and what effect will it have on humans and animals? I have heard and radiation, and birds getting confused. other than that, is there anything that might effect life on earth on a large scale? I also heard that the axis of rotation might swtich. Is this true? if it is, what effect will this have in life? Thanks sooooooooo much!

Answer 1

The magnetic poles migrate and have been doing so forever. It takes thousands of years for them to move any significant distance.

There is only one effect that I can think of right off that might impact humans in the near future. As the magma that generates the magnetic field moves it creates heat warming the earth a little bit. It's only a fraction of a degree but it contributes to glacial melting and is often mistaken for the effects of global warming.

Answer 2

I don't find anything that makes me think that the poles will change.
If there was a sudden switch we could be in trouble. The Van Allan belt is caused by the solar winds colliding with the magnetic field. In the solar winds the beta particles are attracted to the north pole and this makes it negative. The alpha particles are attracted to the south pole and that makes it positive. In the Van Allen belt is what hold the ozone O3. A tremendous amount of current flows from north to the south pole.

Answer 3

It is generally accepted that if the poles decide to flip this would happen over a maybe a thousand years. Since the last time of the pole's last considerable drift was before the dinosaur age on earth, it is not known what effect this would have on modern man. As you can see from the attached Wikipedia article, all sorts of theories abound, but there is no real way to test or predict this phenomena ever happening:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pole_shift_theory

Answer 4

Things don't flip because a pea brained person says they will. What in the hell would make a ball just want to start flipping. Did you ever see a basket ball get up and run?

Answer 5

no