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Earth’s magnetic field protects us from deadly space radiation. What if it were drastically weakened, as a precursor to flipping upside down? I mean, it has before … many, many times..
Hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Written by Matt O’Dowd
Graphics by Leonardo Scholzer
Directed by: Andrew Kornhaber
Produced By: Kornhaber Brown
Special Thanks to Lathrop Lab at University of Maryland:
https://complex.umd.edu/
Check Out Lathrop Lab’s YouTube Channel to learn more about their 3-meter experiment that models the Earth’s core:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-nUrQmFR3pFgEVwW0qAURA
Spaceship Earth has a literal deflector shield. A geomagnetic field. Lines of magnetic force, forged by currents in the planet’s molten core, erupt from the surface close to the north south geographic poles, connecting to each other to wreath the planet in a dipole field, like a gigantic bar magnet. Magnetic fields exert a force on moving charged particles, causing them to spiral around those force lines. That’s helpful, because Earth is constantly bombarded by very fast moving charged particles, especially coming from the Sun. Our magnetic field deflects the worst of these. Not all planets are so lucky. Mars, with its solid core, has no such shield – and so the red planet’s atmosphere was stripped away by the solar wind billions of years ago.
Want Even More Great Space Content? Check out the Exciting Summer of Space Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoFRvPlmME6FOQtdDKyOUzKJiTE6KXsK3
Big Bang Supporters:
Alexander Tamas
Anton Lifshits
David Nicklas
Fabrice Eap
Juan Benet
Morgan Hough
Quasar Supporters:
Mark Heising
Mark Rosenthal
Vinnie Falco
Hypernova Supporters:
Chuck Zegar
Danton Spivey
Donal Botkin
Edmund Fokschaner
Hank S
John Hofmann
John R. Slavik
Jordan Young
Joseph Salomone
Matthew
Matthew O’Connor
Syed Ansar
Gamma Ray Burst Supporters:
Adrien Hatch
Adrian Molyneux
Alexey Eromenko
Andreas Nautsch
Bradley Jenkins
Brandon Labonte
Carlo Mogavero
Dan Warren
Daniel Lyons
David Behtala
DFaulk
Dustan Jones
Geoffrey Short
James Flowers
James Quintero
John Funai
John Pollock
Jonah
Jonathan Nesfeder
Joseph Dillman
Josh Thomas
Kevin Warne
Kyle Hofer
Malte Ubl
Mark Vasile
Nathan Hitchings
Nicholas Nachefski
Nick Virtue
Paul Rose
Scott Gossett
Sigurd Ruud Frivik
Taras Vozniuk
Tim Jones
Tim Stephani
Yurii Konovaliuk
سلطان الخليفي
