What Would Happen If Earth’s Magnetic Field Disappeared?

What could possibly be scarier than the ghosts and ghouls that come out on Halloween? We can think of a few things. One of those is the thought of an Earth without a magnetic field. You may have heard that the magnetic field poles are about to flip━within the next 100 years according to some scientists. Although the flipping of the magnetic poles sounds scary, it has occurred many times before and hasn’t had a catastrophic effect for life on Earth. However, if the magnetic field completely vanished, there could be some major repercussions.

Would Magnets Still Work Without Earth’s Magnetic Field?

The Earth is like one big magnet and it is surrounded by magnetic lines. Magnets align their poles to the Earth’s magnetic poles, so one question is would magnets still work without the magnetic field? It is a bit difficult to say for sure, since we’d have to travel into space, somewhere far away from a magnetic field to test it. But, we can make a pretty educated guess. Here’s our guess━magnets would still work even if the planet’s magnetic field simply disappeared. Why? For one, magnets have been shown to work in space, even though, it was inside the space station orbiting Earth’s atmosphere. Secondly, the main reason why they would still work is that magnets have their own magnetic field, and it is not dependent on the Earth’s. However, you’d have to throw your compass out, because it wouldn’t be very useful anymore. Magnetic compasses align to the magnetic poles to help orient travelers. Without a pole, they would simply align to the nearest magnet or field. Now, that we’ve covered that magnets won’t be affected, let’s discuss how life would be affected. The magnetic field protects us from a number of things, including space rocks and charged particles of solar winds. So, without the magnetic field we could be vulnerable to the sun’s emissions other celestial events. Some scientists have said that the solar winds could puncture holes into the ozone layer, increasing the amount of cosmic radiation on Earth. This could prove dangerous for our health. Plus, a depleting atmosphere could cause extreme weather events and climate changes. In other words, losing the magnetic field could be very bad. Luckily for us, the likelihood that Earth’s field will just simply disappear one day is slim. So, although it is an interesting question to ponder, there is no need to worry about it actually happening.