Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The magnetic field of a magnetic dipole has an inverse cubic dependence in distance, so its order of magnitude at the earth surface can be approximated by multiplying the above result with (R outer core ⁄ R Earth) 3 = (2890 ⁄ 6370) 3 = 0.093 , giving 2.5×10 −5 Tesla, not far from the measured value of 3×10 −5 Tesla at the equator.
The Earth's magnetic field strength was measured by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1832 [69] and has been repeatedly measured since then, showing a relative decay of about 10% over the last 150 years. [70] The Magsat satellite and later satellites have used 3-axis vector magnetometers to probe the 3-D structure of the Earth's magnetic field.
The Earth's "plasma fountain", showing oxygen, helium, and hydrogen ions which gush into space from regions near the Earth's poles. The faint yellow area shown above the north pole represents gas lost from Earth into space; the green area is the aurora borealis -or plasma energy pouring back into the atmosphere.
Study of Earth's magnetosphere began in 1600, when William Gilbert discovered that the magnetic field on the surface of Earth resembled that of a terrella, a small, magnetized sphere. In the 1940s, Walter M. Elsasser proposed the model of dynamo theory, which attributes Earth's magnetic field to the motion of Earth's iron outer core.
The force on an electric charge depends on its location, speed, and direction; two vector fields are used to describe this force. [2]: ch1 The first is the electric field, which describes the force acting on a stationary charge and gives the component of the force that is independent of motion.
The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Atmospheric electricity is an interdisciplinary topic with a long history, involving concepts from electrostatics , atmospheric physics , meteorology and Earth science .
Earth’s inner core, a red-hot ball of iron 1,800 miles below our feet, stopped spinning recently, and it may now be reversing directions, according to an analysis of seismic activity.
where n is the number of charges, q i is the amount of charge associated with the ith charge, r i is the position of the ith charge, r is the position where the electric field is being determined, and ε 0 is the electric constant. If the field is instead produced by a continuous distribution of charge, the summation becomes an integral: