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What is Generating the Earth’s Magnetic Field?
Senin, 27 Jul 2020 13:15:35
The Universe is a brutal place to live in. The Earth is no exception.
Our Earth is one of the planets in solar system, and it is relatively close to the sun. The sun emits solar wind with the speed of 1-2 million miles per hour and it should make the earth not suitable to live in.
But, the magnetic field makes the earth habitable. The question is what is generating the earth’s magnetic field?
The core of the earth are known to have a lot of liquid iron that are stirred up by the earth’s rotation. This stirred up liquid iron then creates a powerful electric current — so powerful that it can repel ultra-fast solar wind.
This magnetic field is called geodynamo (well it’s just a name).
Now, you probably ask yourself “How come rotated liquid iron can make a powerful magnetic field?”. Then, you need to understand the physics of all these.
Magnetic Field (Physics)
In 19th century, Hans Christian Oersted found a unique phenomenon on the observation of electrical wires. When two electrical wires are put close to each other, there are two conditions :
- If both electrical wires have the currents in the same direction, they attract each other,
- If both electrical wires have the currents in different direction, they repel each other!
The weird part is that they attract each other, even though electrically they have the same electrical charge! This can’t be electric field, this has to be something other.
This phenomenon is caused by what we called magnetic field.
The other cool part is that when there is no current flowing through the wires, there is no interaction between the wires!
So, we can conclude that the magnetic field is produced by the electrical charge’s movement!
Conclusion
The Earth’s magnetic field is produced by the stirred up liquid iron that is contained in the earth’s core. This liquid iron have its own electrical charge, and its rotation creates (movement) creates our powerful magnetic field. This magnetic field surely makes our earth habitable.