Want to buy GPS? Think again

S

Sovz

Vault Dweller
Earth's magnetic field, which is essential for all living organism is weakening. Consequences could be quite drastic.

Researchers claim that the process has begun 150 years ago. Magnetic field force has already decreased by 10-15%; the process continues. Satellites have already determined changes. In case the magnetic field will drop to zero, the so-called magnetic reversal will most likely occur. As a result, North and South poles will exchange positions.

Analogues situation took place 780 000 years ago, in times when early humans were just beginning to learn to make stone tools. Scientists presume that the reason behind such anomaly may have something to do with the whirls of molten iron inside the Earth's core.

One can hardly predict consequences of such global cataclysm. First of all, and this is the most evident, our planet will become vulnerable to solar radiation; under normal circumstances, magnetic field protects the earth from their negative influence. Secondly, many birds and animals that normally rely on the magnetic field in times of their seasonal migrations will also suffer. Even though the "flip" is not instantaneous, evolution is a more time consuming process. Consequently, animals may simply be unable to adjust to the change.

Humanity will also face difficult times. All navigation systems will no longer be of use. More so, radio communications systems, including cell phones, will be filled with noise. Such occurrences can be observed quite often during strong magnetic storms.

Some scientists, however, still remain rather skeptical in regards to such total magnetic reversal. American geophysics professor John Tarduno stated in his interview to The New York Times that his colleagues had even made a bet in this respect, even though none of them will witness victory. According to specially created computer generated model, the magnetic reversal will take place in approximately 2 000 years.
 
Another doomsday event! What will happen first I ask? Nuke war, polar icecaps melting, ozon layer getting destroyed by pollution or aliens invading the earth.
 
*sighs*

If it started 150 years ago and it is at 10-15%, I'm not gonna see it. I always miss all the fun.
 
Koki said:
*sighs*

If it started 150 years ago and it is at 10-15%, I'm not gonna see it. I always miss all the fun.
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Yeah. Damn geologic timescale... Bah, it has happened a few times before, and it will happen again. It's a natural process in Earth's history. We'll get over it. And if we don't, meh. Someone else will.
 
Sovz said:
According to specially created computer generated model, the magnetic reversal will take place in approximately 2 000 years.
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:arrow: not our problem



earth will be dead by then anyway (either conflict or migration)
 
Did anybody else read Hybrids by Robert J. Sawyer? He talked about the collapse of the Magnetic Field. In the book, when the field collapsed, Homo sapiens all started seeing things. People who were religious saw visions of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. People who believed in aliens saw visions of UFO's or their versions of aliens. Stuff like that.

He also discussed the birds and their migratory patterns. They had some other compensation and therefore weren't affected. According to him, the switch was pretty much "instantaneous," occuring over a period of about 15 years (a pretty short time considering how old our earth is). I'm not sure whether or not this is true, but he also said that when the Field collapses, it is a 50/50 chance that we will "reboot" in the same orientation we are in now, so it may not be that much of a problem.

All that I know about this is based on a single book, and I admit this now. I admit that I actually know very little about this topic, so if you have criticisms, don't take them out on me. I am merely sharing this particular authors' version of what will happen.
 
I believe that mankind will take care of itself (read: nuclear war... at the GAY BAR GAY BAR GA- nevermind) within this millenium, so I don't care.

First the moon hitting the Earth (or leaving its orbit), then the supernova, then magnetic fields, what's next?

Slowly I get the feeling those scientists are just trying to play attention whores.
 
Apparently I'm the only one here who realizes that GPS has nothing to do with magnetic fields.

And I saw on Nova that the fields are indeed weakening. Soon they will go away completely. But the geological record has also shown that the fields will return within a few years. This is a cyclical event, my dear doomsday prognosticators, one that will occur again and again for as long as the core of the earth is molten.

Indeed, the reason why Mars lost its atmosphere is that it wasn't big enough to sustain a molten core. Once it solidified, the field stopped, and solar winds stripped away the atmosphere, removing all liquid water over millenia.

The worst we will see here on earth is a few decades of increased solar radiation, and a slight thinning of the atmosphere. Note however that the earth has been gaining atmosphere for eaons, so its not like what we lost won't come back once the field restabilizes.

But one thing I found interesting about the Nova program is that they forcasted a 100,000 year cycle of the field reversing. Note that evolutionary biology has seen a seemingly 100,000 year cycle when new species are rapidly introduced and old ones die out. Could it be that the increased mutation rate caused by the increased gamma radiation that hits earth during this brief window of zero magnetic field catalyzes evolution? Discuss.
 
I don't understand. You want us to reconsider buying GPS-enabled devices because in two thousand years they'll be useless?

O-kay

Disagree about mutations. Statistically mutations are responsible for a diminishingly small percentage of changes in a newborn organism, and they are all random. The natural pairing of the fit parents is far more effective in allowing species to adapt to a changing environment.
 
Will we even provided we excist use devices that could be distorted by magnetism? Thats provided we continue to grow technically speaking as we are today.
 
According to S-shaped theory of development - no. We'll run out of steam in a few decades unless there's a new technology revolution, like using virgin infant brains as supercomputers.
 
APTYP said:
Disagree about mutations. Statistically mutations are responsible for a diminishingly small percentage of changes in a newborn organism, and they are all random. The natural pairing of the fit parents is far more effective in allowing species to adapt to a changing environment.
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But those changes occur primarily due to mutations in the germ cells of the parents; they seldom arise naturally in the new organism. Remember that somatic, or permanent, mutations are only passed along if the mutation occurs in the germ cell, egg and sperm so to speak. So, increased radiation affects the parents by increasing the chances of mutations occuring in the germ cells of the parents, which are passed along to the offspring during fertilization and general reproduction. Increased radiation thus increases the rate of mutation, ie evolution, over baseline. This is especially important in critters that reproduce rapidly, like bacteria and welfare moms, which have the highest rate of mutations per unit time.
 
APTYP said:
According to S-shaped theory of development - no. We'll run out of steam in a few decades unless there's a new technology revolution, like using virgin infant brains as supercomputers.
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What do you mean we will run out of steam?
 
IIRC from my geology classe earth 's magnetic field is not stable, it has a tendency to change every 10000 or so years. Those changes can be oberved in layers of ancient rock.
 
Ugly John said:
IIRC from my geology classe earth 's magnetic field is not stable, it has a tendency to change every 10000 or so years. Those changes can be oberved in layers of ancient rock.
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Exactly, the especially volcanic rocks that cool quickly often leave the iron and magnetic elements in them polarized along the magentic field which predominated during its formation. Successive eruptions, especially from one site, show that the alignments vary over time, swithing poles as you go back in the geologic record.. I am under the impression that the switches appear to occur every hundred thousand years, though.

Incidentally, this is why true and magnetic north are not the same things. Magentic north is the sum of all the forces at work within the mantle, and they are not perfectly balanced along the earth's y-axis. This leads to the wandering effect of the magnetic north. It changes position year to year and indeed second to second, wandering about as a reflection of tectonic and mantle activity. Because of this disparity it is not beyond reason that the internal forces could shift so drastically so as to make the south and north poles switch, as least in terms of magnetics.
 
Murdoch said:
Apparently I'm the only one here who realizes that GPS has nothing to do with magnetic fields.
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it's obviously meant to make you read the thread, nothing more nothing less...
 
This is especially important in critters that reproduce rapidly, like bacteria and welfare moms, which have the highest rate of mutations per unit time.
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You can easily see that mutation is not an explanation. We're talking about very short terms - two thousand years - during which the reversion takes place, and not all of that time is spent bathing in cosmic rays.

A more likely explanation is simply "new" species evolving rapidly on a new niche that was once occupied by now obsolete species that die out. No mutation or alien intervention bullcrap.
 
SuAside said:
Murdoch said:
Apparently I'm the only one here who realizes that GPS has nothing to do with magnetic fields.
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it's obviously meant to make you read the thread, nothing more nothing less...
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Huh? That makes no sense whatsoever. It'd be like me posting "Thinking of buying an Xbox? Think again!" with some news about how chess is becoming less popular. The two are not even connected.
:roll:
GPS uses satellite communication, not magnetism.

And no Murdoch, you are not the only one to notice, just the first to post.
 
Aren't satellites using Earth's magnetic field to navigate and to shield themselves from ionizing radiation?
 
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