Pole Flip

[Mk]

What are all the bad things that would happen if/when the geomagnetic field will reverse polarity? I already have, increased mutations, electronics are extreamly uneconomical, and all the solar wind, CMEs and plasma from the sun hitting earth.

What happens to the sun when its poles flip about every 11 years?

How many feet of lead or concrete would be needed to sheild a type of electronic?

[Mk]

I'm writing a paper, what kind of effect would this have on gyroscopes? If any... Would LASER gyroscopes still work? Please no compass comments

[Claude Bile]

Laser gyroscopes would most definately still work.

Claude.

[Crumbles]

What are all the bad things that would happen if/when the geomagnetic field will reverse polarity? I already have, increased mutations, electronics are extreamly uneconomical, and all the solar wind, CMEs and plasma from the sun hitting earth.

What happens to the sun when its poles flip about every 11 years?

How many feet of lead or concrete would be needed to sheild a type of electronic?

Can you please elaborate on the effects you already got?
What exactly leads to increased mutations and uneconomical electronics?

And are you saying that coronal mass ejections and plasma would actually hit the earth's surface or just hit the upper atmosphere?

[Crumbles]

How many feet of lead or concrete would be needed to sheild a type of electronic?

As discussed in this thread (http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=39542), electronics will not be affected directly by the change in direction of the magnetic field. If you picture the earth's magnetic field, it runs almost parallel to the earth's surface except at the earth's magnetic poles where it goes into the surface. Now, say that at this moment, you are sitting at your desk facing the geomagnetic north. If the poles flip, it would be equivalent to you turning round 180 degrees and facing the geomagnetic south. And doing this experiment with any electronic equipment with certainly not alter its behaviour.

The only way that electronics could possibly be affected is if the pole flip somehow lets through some radiation to the earth's surface. But this should not happen if the pole flips because incoming radiation will still be deflected as the magnetic field is still there. It might be a different matter if we completely lose the earth's magnetic field.

[Bob3141592]

[QUOTE=Mk]What are all the bad things that would happen if/when the geomagnetic field will reverse polarity?[QUOTE]

The worst thing that would happen is they'd make a movie like "The Core."

[Mk]

[QUOTE=Mk]What are all the bad things that would happen if/when the geomagnetic field will reverse polarity?[QUOTE]

The worst thing that would happen is they'd make a movie like "The Core."

lol, Crumbles, does or does not plasma have a electromagnetic field?

[Crumbles]

lol, Crumbles, does or does not plasma have a electromagnetic field?

Well if the plasma particles are accelerating, they most certainly will emit electromagnetic radiation.

But the earth's field deflects this radiation away:

"At Earth, however, a strong magnetic field confronts the solar wind, forming a much bigger obstacle than the Earth itself. Because the solar wind is a plasma, it is forced to detour around the Earth's field, creating a large shielded cavity around the Earth--the magnetosphere." (http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/Ielect.html)

So, whether the pole shifts or not, the magnetic field will still be there to defelct it.

You might find these of interest:

This (http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/magnQ&A1.htm#q4) article claims that pole shifts are due to continental drift.

And here (http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/Education/FAQsubj.html) is a whole load of FAQ about the earth and magnetism, that I'm sure will be of help. Unfortunately I haven't got the time to read through all this at the moment but if you do find anything interesting, please post back.

[LURCH]

Some of the leading work being done on the phenominon is by Dr Dan Lathrop (http://complex.umd.edu/dynamo/index.html), on whose work I try to stay updated.