On 11/14/24 9:51 PM, bent fender wrote:
Thu, 14 Nov 2024 17:52:46 -0800 Lew Wolfgang <wolfgang@sweet-haven.com> :
On 11/14/24 16:44, David C. Rankin wrote:
On 11/13/24 5:44 AM, bent fender wrote:
How would such a flip affect magnetic media (or everything electric for that matter)?
It wouldn't. The only thing it effect is where the needle points on your compass and the direction grains solidify in rock as it cools from magma :)
I do wonder what would happen with respect to protection from the solar wind? And I wonder how long it would take to flip? If a day or two, probably minimal effects? But if it took 10,000 years?
Regards, Lew
Read about it a long time ago, I think at times there was frequent oscillation for maybe up to 100,000 years before the definitive flip. So I was wondering about the 3-finger rule of electric motors.
Things are definitely in flux, especially at mid-to northern/southern latitudes. I fly. One thing that is critical when doing things the old way, dead-reckoning with a compass and watch, is to correct for "magnetic declination" (the difference between magnetic north and true north). Just since the 90's the declination in my area has changed by 5% (and that's at 31.7N latitude). Go further north or south and the change is multiples of that number. I had read sever papers of the last decade on the fluctuations and how we are heading to another pole-swap, and if I recall, this is in somewhat of an accelerated manner compared to the normal period and rate. Most will be oblivious to changes, unless you use a compass or happen to catch the aurora over Saharan Africa during the swap. The effect on charged-particles means you get more where the poles are as the magnetic field-lines dip towards earth. There were some other "possible" climate effects I hadn't thought of, that this BBC article mentions: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/earth-magnetic-field-revers... But, after thorough reading, we can all take comfort that Leap and Tumbleweed will be unaffected :) -- David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.