Forum: Story Ideas

I'm pretty sure the reversal of the magnetic poles isn't going to be like, a cataclysm or anything.

From what I've read, the reversal is not instantaneous. Navigation isn't the big problem. Most navigation is by done by satellite locating these days, so it won't cause much if any disruption to commercial navigation.

The real problem is that the field strength of the earth's magnetic field fluctuates severely during the process, potentially dropping all the way to zero at times. Since that magnetic field protects us from a number of different kinds of very dangerous forms of radiation, there could be issues there.

From what I've read, the reversal is not instantaneous. Navigation isn't the big problem. Most navigation is by done by satellite locating these days, so it won't cause much if any disruption to commercial navigation.

Electromagnetic fields also play havoc with CRTs and many forms of data storage. But then, who uses a CRT these days? Magnetic Data Storage is another matter, but the SSHDs are negating that.

Mostly the big thing on the pole flip is we're not entirely sure what will happen, or exactly how it will play out(such as time frame). We do know that a period of little to no magnetic flux will happen, which depending on what the sun is doing around the same time could be really bad.

CME heading to Earth + disappeared Magnetosphere = not fun.

More incentive to get a self-sufficient colony running on Mars, and possibly a few other places around the solar system as well. (And beyond if possible)

CME heading to Earth + disappeared Magnetosphere = not fun.

Actually, forget CMEs, the normal solar wind and background cosmic radiation would be quite dangerous to life in general without the Earth's magnetosphere.

@Not_a_ID

CME heading to Earth + disappeared Magnetosphere = not fun.

More incentive to get a self-sufficient colony running on Mars, and possibly a few other places around the solar system as well. (And beyond if possible)

@Crumbly Writer

Yeah, because the radiation shielding on Mars is so much stronger than it is on Earth! 'D

The technology necessary for the survival of a Mars colony just happens to be the same technology we'll need to survive a magnetospheric catastrophe on Earth. How convenient! ;)

Yeah, because the radiation shielding on Mars is so much stronger than it is on Earth! 'D

Mars has less atmospheric and magnetic shielding, true, but distance is also a shield against radiation and Mars is further from the sun.

The intensity of radiation from the sun (this would include a CME) falls off proportionally to 4 times the square of the distance from the sun.

Think of the wave front of radiation from the sun as a sphere, the surface area of a sphere is 4(pi)r^2

Earth is 92.96 million miles from the sun and Mars is 141.6 million miles from the sun.

A sphere at Mars orbit has 2.3 times more surface area than a sphere at Earth orbit so radiation from the sun is less than half as intense.

Geologists claim to have found conclusive proof that the poles have flipped in the past but everything I have read suggests that it seemed to be pretty quick.

You have to understand that geologists normally deal in time frames of millions of years. Something that takes 2 or 3 centuries to complete is "pretty quick" to a geologist.