Earths Magnetic Field Reversing Effect on Electrical Technology

Motors use either permanent magnets or magnetic fields generated within the motor by the electric currents.
Thus a revsing of the earths magnetic field would have no effect.
BTW I don't think there isn't such a thing as a single pole anymore than you can get a bit of string with only one end. The earth's magnetic field has two poles.
It won't even effect the rotation of your bath water
Del

You will have, however some difficulty reading a compass. S.M.

but not much else will change...
That's easy for you to say as you're no a homing pigeon.
Del
(.... mmmm tasty pigeon)

There were prolly lots of happy, well-fed cats and disappointed Italian riflemen around about 780,000 years ago.

Prolly? Can you define that word?

What are the odds that you are also doggy/tunedwolf from the ETO forums?

Thats the only other place I have ever seen "prolly" used by anyone.

1). http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-of/prolly

2). I assure you that I am human.

3). What is ETO?

I think you're prolly an android...

I totally agree.

As an example, electric motors and host of other things could/would have gone berserk on satellites or spaceships out there but they haven't or have they?

Btw, avoid the use of pacemaker! Have no idea how's that gonna be affected on the non-romantic side...

FYI, when the magnetic field declines in during the transitional period solar radiation reaching the earths surface will increase. So something that may have been overlooked is the effects the increase radiation may have.

Pidgins getting lost, there's an up side to everything. I hate flying rats.

As far as electricity goes, I think earth will always be earth.

Just don't say, "earth", too many times in a row...................it looses all meaning and starts to sound ridiculous.

You wrote, "I can see that perhaps low voltage, battery powered etc electronics technology might not be affected, though producing the low voltage itself might be affected? But what about electrical equipment etc where the Earth itself is 'one pole' and the conductor of the power grid?"

Now think about this a little bit...

If you want to know what impact a reversal will have, then turn around 180°. All your electronics still working? I thought so.

Second, what proof have you that a reversal is underway?

Third, about the largest effect I see is biological. Several species use the magnetic field for navigation. Even some bacteria use it to avoid rising to the surface where oxygen would kill them. For those creatures there will be problems.

Finally, if you are worrying about the effect on me personally, don't. I already have arranged to start a new cottage industry of franchises that specialize in repainting the needles on mechanical compasses.

If your interested in a ground floor opportunity, drop me a line. ;-)

Btw, like your aerial; now I know why all that spurious emission is coming over my radio

The wise say the poles are shifting all the time gradually-nothing significant has happened so far-what was past may be the future

Very little will be affected. Compass and I see that is ready to be repainted. Some exploration equipment will be affected and will have to be rebuilt or re-calibrated at least. These equipment use the magnetic field and solar radiation to map the sub surface. Major equipment will not be affected. Now I would think that some of the equipment like radio propagation might be affected and some satellites might also but I am not sure. As for the advent of a polar reversal, it has happened before and will happen again. Now when, that is another question. It could happen tomorrow or in another 10,000 years or more. It is not something to worry about.

I do know of one thing that will be changed adversely. CRT based colour televisions/monitors.

I was amazed once when an company I worked for had to remove the picture tubes in several monitors and turn them upside down because the colour monitors they purchased from the northern hemisphere (i'm in the southern) could not be aligned correctly. The colour purity was way off. The Engineer who handled the problem said that inverting the tube would fix it because the tube was effected by the Earth's magnetic field.

Try it yourself if you don't believe. Take a CRT tlevision or monitor and turn it upside down while viewing a colour image on it. The colour "washes out".

I thought that was what degaussing was for. I seem to remember that we had to have the ability to degauss all the CRTs for any systems we installed on ships...they do cross the equator now and then.

Similar. Degaussing removes the residual magnetism that builds up in the shadow mask and other iron based items around the tube. What I am talking about effects the entire picture as the guns are deflected by the same amount regardless of where they point.

South pole Penguins to be located on North pole..

Blimey...
A serious answer.
During transition, presumably the poles just slowly shift, rather than actually disappear and then reappear, so presumably the shielding will still be there.
But... Are we still shielded at the poles, or does the radiation stream in along the lines of flux (causing the aurora) which could cause problems as the poles migrated across inhabited regions.
Will my aluminium foil hat help?

Del

You don't look happy with that hat on. Maybe the voices stop when you put it on....

What effect does putting loads of metal into orbit have? Could we use the space junk?

Well, it makes for an occasional metal rainstorm for the Space Station.

In reality, most of that material is probably nonmagnetic anyway. Iron is more expensive to boost to orbit versus titanium, aluminum, and composites.

The actual amount of mass in orbit (even if you count the Space Station) is trivial. What makes it a concern is its velocity. Ke = m * v^2

I've seen pictures of the Space Shuttle STS-7 windows with significant pitting (3mm diameter) in the glass after impact with debris the size of a small paint fleck.

That's impresive! Good old kv²

My mate was telling me about another practical example of that...getting hit by a bumble bee at 100+ mph on a bike.

Try that at 25,000 mph. ;-)

How'd you get OUTSIDE the vehicle at 25,000 mph to get hit by it? (I'm assuming here that you aren't Superman, so you can't fly that fast. And not Roger Bannister either. Although even HE couldn't run that fast.)

I had a friend get hit on the arm by an insect about 2 1/2 inches long, while driving his semi-tractor-trailer rig in Western Virginia (USA) a number of years ago. He said the impact would have only made his arm ache, but the stinger going in swelled his arm up and hurt so bad he pulled over, and jumped down the embankment into a stream, to soak his arm against the pain.

Don't guess that was mostly the kinetic IMPACT energy though.

Still pondering how you could get hit by a BUG at 25K. Even VW Bugs can't go that fast!

Oh, well ... doddering off to bed. My brain hurts.

Well, the Space Shuttle Orbiter is orbiting at 17,300 mph. All you need is to be doing a space walk and get hit by something in a retrograde orbit to your own.

Got that part. But I was envisioning getting hit by a bug at that speed, and it STRUCK me funny!

I realize only too well what damage a micrometeorite could do. Anybody ever seen what a .17 HMR round can do on ballistic gelatin, at speeds around 1800 to 2000 MPH? Now imagine that at 25,000.

But it, too, is a lot harder than the bug on the biker hit, which began this transgression of the thread. And the thought of managing to get hit by a bug doing 25K, whether it was you or the bug doing the 25K, is somewhat mind-boggling.

BTW, what was the last thing that past through the mosquito's mind as he hit the windshield?

His rear-end.

I don't really know if the poles actually slowly change places or just reverse slowly. It was an article I read last year somewhere but it did say from geological evidence that the poles have changed a few times in the past and transitions in the type earthly life was evident corresponding to these reversals.

Accompanying the article there was an diagram showing that the radiation from the solar wind is initially deflected and some particles did re-enter at the poles. This is what now what the auroras are... you don't really see a lot of aurora activity except at the poles. I assume without the magnetic deflection we would not have auroras at the poles and the stream of particles would bear straight in from the sun with a high intensity, probably more intense during the day. That would certainly alter plant life to a degree. I wish that I could find that article now.

Considering the time that when this will happen you probably will need an aluminium lined casket rather than a hat.

Interesting ideas...so it's like the Earth's magnetic field is pulsing...albeit on an unfeasibly long period when compared to our lifetime or ability to datalog...LOL

One question: Should that last point have been:

aluminium lined catsket rather than a hat.

Cute kitty, I might add, should be named...Dell de Cato...is he up for action, when can we start bidding (without the foil hat)?

Actually modeling appears to indicate multiple weaker pole will appear simulatenously in different locations, before the final poles re-establish themselves durign the transition, and it can occur relatively rapidly in a mater of 1000s of years at most.

Actually Del, what will happen is that multiple sub-poles will form and start moving more or less towards the equator and the magnetic field lines will get quite tangled in the interim. I've seen computer simulations of what is to come and it looks an awful lot like what happens to the solar magnetosphere during a sunspot cycle, and for the same reasons, the solar magnetosphere undergoes polar reversals every 11 years or so. not only will we lose the Van Allen Belts in the interim, but we will also lose the ionosphere which will affect long distance shortwave communications. The cancer rates will also go up since more cosmic radiation will reach deeper into the atmosphere. people at sea level will be getting the same cosmic ray dose as people at high altitude do now. and those at high altitude will get much higher doses. I'll do some Googling and see if I can find the simulation again on the web and post it here..

ok, this is not the simulation I was looking for but it might help explain what i'm saying.

http://www.psc.edu/research/graphics/gallery/CORRECTno_earth.mpg

http://www.psc.edu/science/glatzmaier.html

Actually geologic evidence shows the pole decline in strength to near nothing, then multiple weak pole appear across the planet. Then the poles re-establish themselves as a strengthened north and south pole, just aligned differently. so for some short period of a few 100 year there is only a very weak disorientedf magnetic field. So there would be some increase in solar radiation reaching the surface of the planet.

Degaussing the CRTs or not is probably the least concern the earth is going through an alleged polar transition and most CRTs getting replaced by flat screens anyway.

However, I am perplexed by the following link for not knowing how much is to it...watch all parts!

I guess as long as the w.w.w. doesn't go down then we're laughing, aren't we?

With regards to the link, and to "Jesse Ventura's conspiracy theory:

"TRU"e TV? TRU.TV? I've watched some of their stuff, early on, and even when they were MUCH more careful about credibility (if you'd seen them, even in the early days, you'd be laughing at what is, essentially an inside joke), they were extremely questionable. And frankly, a former State Governor who called himself "The Body" (kind of like an actor calling himself "The Situation", but he's an actor, we can make allowances for crying out loud) doesn't lend credibility to the programming.

I agree. As long as the WWW stays up, we can all keep laughing (gasping, crying, whatever floats YOUR boat!).

And conspiracy theories have legs precisely because they choose subjects for which there are no "easy" public explanations to build their springboards from. After all, to gain any credence at all, they first have to make you doubt/disbelieve/discredit what you have always expected to be true, before they can tackle what you've always believed to be true, and finally, tackle what you KNOW.

But, personally, if I can't ever prove it one way or the other, and even if I believe it COULD have been the way they say it is for a lot longer than I've been alive, well, we've survived a long time without the help of the rich and self-centered. I don't expect anything more from them, and I certainly DON'T want to spend any considerable length of time cooped up with them underground. They'd probably decide I should be their personal servant, and that would definitely create a running war. They'd have to kill me first. And they'd undoubtedly find plenty of sycophant slaves to try for them. I don't need the headaches from any of the idiots. Let them keep their personal hidey holes for themselves. I'll take free air.

I'll keep what I have here, and be happy with it, Thanks. And I won't waste a lot of time watching Jesse blow smoke rings. His motives seem suspect to me.

Oh, Oh, Pick me! I want more fame, and I'll do ANYTHING to get it. Jesse: Try a real job, instead. When you were a Navy Seal, you were an individual worthy of respect and gratitude from your country. Don't be like Dick Marcinko now and make a fool's game out of glorifying yourself because of that former worth. You besmirch the reputation of a dedicated and tough bunch of warriors, so you can look like some kind of an aging Rambo.

I like the way you respond but, what about the legacy at Denver airport? I am merely taking in all this conspiracy bull-dust and it is a little bemusing to say the least. I know TV is a carnival: full of entertainment of live show freaks including the news cast that is censored for our 'peace of mind'.

The worst I ever hear is that Obama was recently trying to lay his paws on the internet switch is that right? Now, that would be a real bummer there'd be no commercial activities either, only censored ones.

Well. Thanks for the vote of confidence, but now I display my dumb-ity (if that isn't a word, it should be one. Shoot. It IS, now! )

What legacy at Denver Airport?

And Obama finding the internet switch would be as likely him finding his way into the White House, ... oh, WAIT, he DID that already, didn't he? Backup all your data, fast. We aren't IN Kansas anymore, Toto! And our data won't be, neither!

HMMMMMMMM....

Sounds like this could be the next Y2K scam.......LOL!

The issue here is to predict what the Electrical (?) Technology will be at that time. It might have evolved into rubbing flintstones. S.M.

And getting more realistic. Will the reversal happen overnight? Of course not. Wonder what the consequences would be on magnetic field going 'zero-cross' before the 'reversal' All the shielding it provides from charge-baring particles will be temporarily eliminated. So I think the period before the expected reversal i.e. magnetic diminishing will have far more serious effects than reversal itself. But I don't expect it any time soon. S.M.

Seems there are many theories and models, with a great range of time-frames for the reversal process.

From Wikipedia:

"Studies of lava flows on Steens Mountain, Oregon, indicate that the magnetic field could have shifted at a rate of up to 6 degrees per day at some time in Earth's history, which significantly challenges the popular understanding of how the Earth's magnetic field works.^[17]"

I always look at the bright side: I'll be dead by then. S.M.

But the next reversal is about half a million years overdue - could happen any time now!

Lets hope it coincides with the next iceage so we can get all the crap over in one big hit and then come out of the caves again.
Del

The movementof the magnetic pole laterally around the earths axis, pole, doesn't necessarily correlate with the decline in magnetic field strength that could lead to an substantial excursion and/or a switching of the magnetic poles.

True enough.

I still think that there are no clear indications for either the mechanism, mode or timespan of pole reversals.

Modern weather system modelling is demonstrably woefully inadequate, climate modelling perhaps in a similar league^[1] (given the longer periods and evidence available). Why should models of the innards of the Earth be any better?

I stand to be corrected, but I don't think I'll live long enough.

_{[1] I'd like to put it on record that I do not deny climate change.}

Something that does provide some higher level of precision to modeling of the earths magnetic field is the relative homogeneity of the system and the much reduced number of variables, unlike weather or even worse climate modeling. Also, we have a rapid cycling basis to use for comparison in the sun. Now the science on the otherhand is problematic, just because something can make an accurate prediction doesn't mean it meets the requirements of the scientiific method in proposing a theory about the mechnism that stands up to testing (if such were the case, engineering would just be science). Obviously, I realize the softer sciences (biology, sociology, psychology and such) would take a different perspective on the rigors of the scientific method.

Movement of continents might be due to shift in magnetic core orientation changes, but it may not be switching the poles completely. It is likely that magnetic field can drop and then come back again as earth finds the magnetic material on the lines of magnetic poles. We are talking about surface phenomenon and it may differ from what is happening at the core a little and in time this may reflect. I think good amount of earth magnetic field mapping has been done in 3D above earth to some distance.

Earth weather from solar charge particles and ionized gases obviously is directed by magnetic lines of force. Building up charge on the earth and in the shell above causes sparks and reconstruction of chemicals in air and physical forces make drastic affect on earth.

Magnetic field may also affect sea and cause Tsunami.

As long as my year of birth (52) added to my age (59) ends up being 111 I'm safe. Try it with your numbers. You see!? It's all gooderer. This will not change because it's my lucky number. Getting the Gauss out of us Islanders has failed many times, we just recharge, free of charge.

Were we are, off the east coast of Australia, she will always be on the right when we walk south. No compass will ever change that.

Say, this Ventura guy, is he for real? Just had a few seconds worth but it seemed to be transmitted from a different planet. Somebody tell him to come here and chill out for a while. After that he could do real good stand up comedy at a pole of his choice. Maybe even pole dancing?

I can see the light, if I spin fast enough. It's the spin not the economy (of reversed poles)