What are the effects when the magnetic polarity of the Earth reverses and how to stop them?

Question

I have just watched a documentary about the magnetic polarity of the Earth. It shows that over the years, the magnetic field that comes out of the Earth which is from the Hemisphere is reversing. I can see that this is bad, but what in a way, and what are the causes of this?

Answer 1

"The the polarity of the earth's magnetic field... has reversed many times during Earth history.We see polarity reversals in the rock record because magnetic minerals (iron oxides, for instance) align themselves with the field as the rock is formed. If we determine the age of the rock, we know the field at that point in time. By dating lots of rocks, we know that the field reverses every 500,000 years or so, although there have been periods of many millions of years when it hasn't reversed (such as the Cretaceous Period).
Revesals are very quick (a few tens of thousands of years) but our resolution on rock ages is not great so this really limits our precision in determining this number.
Many things could happen during a reversal but it is not easy to predict their effects on life on Earth. We can predict a few things, however. The Earth's magnetic field is important because it shields the Earth from a large percentage of cosmic rays (the field focuses these rays towards the poles and away from other latitudes). The field is also used by many organisms to navigate. During reversal times, things would probably go haywire with electronic communications and other electronic devices due to bombardment by more cosmic rays in low latitudes. Animals may also have trouble navigating.
How would we deal with this? I don't know. The effect of a reversal would come on gradually and could stay with us for a time period that is longer than human civilization has existed. We would probably adapt. How did reversals affect other organisms in the past (such as the dinosaurs)? This is very difficult to answer and I'm really not qualified to venture a guess. If any part of their daily routine involved using the magnetic field, or if their food supply depended on organisms that needed the field to survive, the effects could have been dramatic. "


"Scientific opinion is divided on what causes geomagnetic reversals. Many scientists believe that reversals are an inherent aspect of the dynamo theory of how the geomagnetic field is generated. In computer simulations, it is observed that magnetic field lines can sometimes become tangled and disorganized through the chaotic motions of liquid metal in the Earth's core.

In some simulations, this leads to an instability in which the magnetic field spontaneously flips over into the opposite orientation. This scenario is supported by observations of the solar magnetic field, which undergoes spontaneous reversals every 7-15 years (see: solar cycle). However, with the sun it is observed that the solar magnetic intensity greatly increases during a reversal, whereas all reversals on Earth seem to occur during periods of low field strength.

Present computational methods have used very strong simplifications in order to produce models that run to acceptable time scales for research programmes.

A minority opinion, held by such figures as Richard A. Muller, is that geomagnetic reversals are not spontaneous processes but rather triggered by external events which directly disrupt the flow in the Earth's core. Such processes may include the arrival of continental slabs carried down into the mantle by the action of plate tectonics at subduction zones, the initiation of new mantle plumes from the core-mantle boundary, and possibly mantle-core shear forces resulting from very large impact events. Supporters of this theory hold that any of these events could lead to a large scale disruption of the dynamo, effectively turning off the geomagnetic field. Since the field is stable in either the present North-South orientation or a reversed orientation, they propose that when the field recovers from such a disruption it spontaneously chooses one or the other state, such that a recovery is seen as a reversal in about half of all cases. Brief disruptions which do not result in reversal are also known and are called geomagnetic excursions."

Answer 2

Sorry am sorta in a hurry and didnt read through all of Gentelmens comment, but i searched fro Radiation and did not find anything. One cool thing about our earth's magnetic field???? Its a barrier against the solar radiation from the sun. As the field slowly begins to shift polarity, it will grow weaker and at some point, it may be a split second or more time, there will be no field at all or at best a very weak field. During this time we will be exposed to higher radiation blasts from the sun. Normally not a big deal, but lets look at worst case scenarios....Solar storm and reversal of the earths polarity at the same time=Death??? maybe but cancer is a given. This is a very apocalyptic view, but it is a possible one.

Answer 3

(gentleman), has the best theory answer(s). I think the Earth has it's own way of taking care, and repairing itself though.
Einstein, said all answers lie within nature itself. If you can compare anything here on this planet, to this observation. Everything from a plant, to an animal, onto us as human beings, try to heal itself. So does the Earth. This is where I have to throw down the Global Warming card. There are polar shifts, and other geographical changes that go on everyday. We just don't feel them, unless the plates shift under you, or near by, thus an earthquake. Earthquakes happen every hour around the world. I watch this on a feed link on my main page.
The Larson Shelf A and B have just given us an abundant of indigenous New Life. The survival of these new species will most probably not have time to adjust to the quick pace of global warming. We may loose some unfortunately.
Most of which science teaches us are based on theory, which is fine. But, I surmise the hemisphere is shifting as usual, but we are not helping to stabilize the Earths magnetic field due to the destruction of other factors, that wound the protective seal, the atmosphere, here lies our quandary, Global Warming. An issue we all need to participate in. Best to do something rather than nothing to help heal things we know we can do.

This is in a short condensed essay, but apply this to what (gentleman) said, and I hope this helps too.

Answer 4

There is no way we can stop magnetic polarity from reversing...

Just like we can't stop global warming and cooling...

It is just a thing our Earth does and there is no way of controlling nature...

The length of distance between reversals are long (hundreds of years)...

And all it does is switch magnetic North to South and vice-versa...

Nothing bad happens and our compasses will just be read backwards...

We know that the reversals happen because of volcanic rocks (the ones in the Mid-Atlantic Trench).

Since volcanoes erupt the rock is liquid and can magnetize to whatever the Earth is at that period of time...
Once the rock hardens it keeps it's magnetivity and we just need to test these rocks for how old we are to see when the Earth was in magnetized differently and on and on...

Answer 5

Slight fluctuation on the core is detected.

Shield down to 75%.

Multiple stations are reporting polarity reversal and slight increase of radiation level.


The Big E should be treated for what it is.



Anyway. The true nature of the Big E's core is never truly revealed in public. Speculated, yes. But never truly revealed.

Answer 6

Once the polarity reverses it takes tens of thousands of years to complete. You might see the start of it but that is all.