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Questions and answers listed by Topic

Please note!

    Listed below are questions submitted by users of "The Great Magnet, the Earth" and the answers given to them. This is just a selection--of the many questions that arrive, only a few are listed. The ones included below are either of the sort that keeps coming up again and again, or else the answers make a special point, going into extra details which might make interesting reading.

        Classifications are tentative, and some entries appear under more than one heading.

Additional questions-and-answers:



Items covered:

1.     Magnets and magnetism

(1)     What is "Magnetic Flux" and what are "Flux Lines"?
(11)     Magnetic Shielding
(12)     Building an electromagnet
(18)     Effect of magnetism on water

(19)     "Why does this happen?" (electromagnetic induction)
(21)     Why do iron filings outline magnetic field lines?
(22)     Is Earth held in its orbit by magnetic forces?
(23)     All magnetism due to different arrangements of magnetic poles?
(31)     What is the smallest magnet?
(35)     Can we tell if a symmetric magnetic field rotates around its axis?
(36)     What causes permanent magnetism?
(37)     What types of metal are attracted to magnets?
(38)     "If the earth is a giant magnet, why doesn't all iron stick to it?"
(44)     Curie Point
(45)     Blocking of magnetic fields
(47)     Teacher seeks easy experiments
(52)     Decay of magnetism in a magnet
(54)     Magnetization of materials
(56)     Good "magnetic insulators"
(58)     Shielding magnetic fields (2 messages)
(59)     Conductivity and Transparency
(64)     Why does the magnetic field stop particles but not EM radiation?

2.     Applications of magnetism (actual and proposed)

(2)     Is the surface of the Earth expanding?
(3)     Will a Compass work inside a Car?
(7)     Can Magnetism propel Spaceships?
(20)     What would a Compass on the Moon point to?
(24)     Magnetism to replace gravity in a space station?
(33)     "Artificial magnetic shields" for astronauts?
(50)     Tesla's patents, and ball lightning
(51)     Can electricity be generated from the Earth's magnetic field?
(57)     Creating magnetic pottery
(63)     Magnetic Levitation

3.     Magnetism and life

(13)     How do Magnetic Reversals affect Animal Migrations?
(26)     Can magnetic reversals affect the human mind?
(34)     The movie "The Core"
(39)     Risks from stormy "Space Weather"
(43)     "Magneto-therapy"
(61)     Geomancy

4.     Earth as a magnet

(5)     What was it that Ned Benton did?
(9)     Measuring Earth's magnetic field
(10)     The strength of the Earth's mgnetic field
(14)     Which is the "True" North Magnetic Pole?
(15)     Magnetic intensity at Singapore
(17)     How does the Earth's field vary with location?
(22)     Is Earth held in its orbit by magnetic forces?
(38)     "If the earth is a giant magnet, why doesn't all iron stick to it?"
(48)     Local field does not always decrease!
(49)     Loss of magnetic energy from Earth
(60)     Heat sources inside the Earth

5.     Dvnamos

(16)     Inner Core Rotation
(41)     Dynamos triggered by the sun?
(46)     Earth magnetism from rotating electric charges?
(55)     Induction by non-fluctuating magnetic fields?
(65)     Earth's rotation and magnetism

6.     Reversals of the Earth's Magnetic Polarity

(4)     Pole shifts? What Pole Shifts?
(5)     What was it that Ned Benton did?
(6)     Reversals of the Earth's field (4 queries)
(8)     Reversal of the Sun's Magnetic Poles
(25)     Magnetic reversal due soon? And are volcanoes a factor?
(26)     Can magnetic reversals affect the human mind?
(30)     Can the Sun trigger magnetic reversals?
(28)     Magnetic reversals due to comet impact?
(34)     The movie "The Core" (see also #68)
(62)     Are we approaching a polarity reversal?
(67)     The movie "The Core" (see also #34)
(68)     Telling the 6th grade about polarity reversals

For the next two items, see also "The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere",
an overview of the magnetic environment of the Earth in space and related physics.
(A few Q&As duplicated here)

7.     Earth's magnetism in space

(27)     When and where can I see "Northern Lights"?
(29)     Space Radiation and our weakening magnetic field
(30)     Can the Sun trigger magnetic reversals?

8.     Magnetism of the Sun and distant space.

(8)     Reversal of the Sun's Magnetic Poles
(32)     Isn't the Sun too hot to be magnetic?
(39)     Risks from stormy "Space Weather"
(40)     Does our magnetic field stop the atmosphere from getting blown away?

9.     Miscellaneous

(2)     Is the surface of the Earth expanding?
(18)     Effect of magnetism on water
(42)     Could generated electricity affect Earth's magnetic field?
(53)     Magnetizing glass by a radio wave?
(66)     A career in geomagnetism?

    If you have a relevant question of your own, you can send it to
    earthmag("at" symbol)phy6.org
    Before you do, though, please read the instructions



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Author and Curator:   Dr. David P. Stern
     Mail to Dr.Stern:   earthmag("at" symbol)phy6.org

Last updated 6 January 2006