i know they have the northern light on the north pole. does the same thing happen on the south pole.?

Question

also at some time in the future the poles will swith how will this affect all the navigation equipment in the world?

Answer 1

Yes they are called the aurora australis


The magnetic poles have swung around over time sometimes switching but this takes thousands of years. With GPS the navigation systems will be able to cope.

Answer 2

Yup, there's such a thing as the southern lights, or the aurora borealis. I don't know what you mean by the poles "swith"-ing, if you mean that the magnetic poles are moving around, that is true, it happens all the time on a large time scale. Actually, the north pole is moving at about 40 km per year right as we speak. So navigators have to take that in consideration. It's a simple matter of adjustments, I guess.
If you mean the geomagnetic reversal, where the north pole becomes the south pole and viceversa, that is a different story. This has also happened lots of times in the history of the Earth, about once every 200 thousand years. The thing is that this shifting involves also a reduction of the strength of the magnetic field, which exposes us to cosmic radiation. How much will the field will weaken, we don't know. It seems that our ancestors 200 thousand years ago have managed to survive and not get extinct, but for us it may be different. It will be like in a giant microwave oven. We will have more or less problems not just with navigation but with all electronics.

Answer 3

Yes. The borealis effect is caused by the density of magnetic flux being highest at each pole of a magnet. The earth is actually a giant magnet and the poles are around the top and the bottom of the planet. The exact location of either is not actually the geographic poles, though. The magnetic poles are also moving. When they eventually change direction, I suppose satellites will have to be reprogrammed. Also, anything with a polarized magnetic shield will have to have its shield reversed.

Answer 4

At the North Pole there is the Aurora Borealis in the South it's called Aurora Australis. Cool pictures at https://www.posingproductions.com/gallery.php?form_action=detail&id=75

GPS wll work provided the satellites aren't fried with cosmic rays during the switch over between poles.

Answer 5

Yes, the magnetic reversal will affect magnetic compasses. The end pointing north now will point to the south magnetic pole and the end pointed south will point to the new north magnetic pole.

Answer 6

There are southern lights in antarctica, called the Aurora Australis.

As to the second question: Not really. It won't affect the GPS systems, for example, and as far as I know it won't affect magnetic compasses, because they point to a large chunk of magnetic ore in Canada, not to the true north pole of the earth.

Answer 7

yes, there are southern lights.
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/aurora.html


if the poles switch, it will play havoc with navigation equip, as well as just about anything sensitive to magnetic fields (ie: computers, watches, etc)

Answer 8

Yes.

Answer 9

Yes it does.