Why is the Earth's magnetic field splitting?

Some people believe that the appearance of life on Earth was an accidental event, but others believe that it was the result of a combination of various aspects. If the emergence of the first life on Earth was accidental, the fact that it continued to survive and reproduce on Earth indicates that the natural environmental conditions on Earth are suitable for life to survive. Compared with other planets, the Earth has many environmental advantages, such as a suitable atmosphere, the right temperature, liquid water flow, etc.

In addition, there is another condition that people often ignore, and that is the Earth's magnetic field. The Earth's magnetic field is an invisible presence, but it is vital to the life of the Earth. Without the protection of the Earth's magnetic field, the radiation in the universe would cause the Earth's surface to become unprotected by inches of grass. However, in September last year, NASA released a surprising study that the Earth's magnetic field in the South Atlantic region has a significant dent and is likely to split further. Why would this happen? What would be the impact of a complete split in the Earth's magnetic field?

Why is the Earth's magnetic field splitting?

NASA researchers have been concerned about the geomagnetic field of the South Atlantic Ocean since July and August last year, and according to the data monitoring, the magnetic field of the South Atlantic Ocean has appeared a clear dent, and the magnetic field in the dented area has disappeared. The researchers simulated the future changes of the magnetic field through the system, and the results showed that the dent would continue to spread to the west, eventually leading to the complete disappearance of the magnetic field of the entire South Atlantic. After the public was informed of the news, they wanted to know what caused the magnetic field to appear anomalous.

On this issue, NASA scientists said they also have not yet reached a unified conclusion, but there are two aspects of the possibility, the key is to see how the Earth's magnetic field is generated. If the Earth's magnetic field originated in the Earth's interior, then the reason for the dent in the magnetic field should be an anomaly in the internal conditions. The temperature inside the Earth exceeds 5,000 degrees Celsius, the fundamental particles have been active in such a high-temperature state, and there are theories that the movement of these particles is responsible for the formation of the magnetic field.

According to this theory, then the anomaly in the magnetic field should be an anomaly in the movement of internal particles, but there is no way to verify the veracity of this claim. Another viewpoint is proposed based on the fact that the Earth's magnetic field originates from the external environment, that is, solar radiation particles and cosmic radiation particles gather in the outer layer of the atmosphere for a long time, and then there is a directional motion situation, and finally the Earth's magnetic field is formed. If the geomagnetic field is formed in this way, then the cause of the magnetic field depression is related to the outer solar activity situation.

Other scientists believe that the magnetic field depression is a manifestation of the reversal of the Earth's magnetic field. According to scientists' research, the Earth's magnetic field has reversed many times in its history, resulting in the geomagnetic north and south poles being opposite to the geographic north and south poles many times, and the geomagnetic north pole now points to the geographic south pole. Therefore, scientists believe that there is a possibility of geomagnetic reversal, and if this theory is to be proved, it is necessary to continue to observe the geomagnetic field changes in the South Atlantic Ocean at a later stage.

What are the effects of a split in the Earth's magnetic field?

The most important question for the public is what will happen if the magnetic field of the South Atlantic Ocean continues to split. Since people have ignored the existence of the geomagnetic field for a long time, they are aware of the seriousness of the magnetic field anomaly. First of all, the Earth's magnetic field is an invisible protective shield, and if the Earth's magnetic field splits completely, then the atmosphere will also split. For a long time, scientists have been studying the relationship between the atmosphere and the magnetic field, and through the analysis of other planets, scientists have concluded that there is no atmosphere without the magnetic field.

The place where the earth's magnetic field breaks may lead to a vacuum area in the atmosphere, which is equivalent to opening Pandora's Box, so that countless cosmic radiation is entering the earth through the channel of this vacuum, causing a serious threat to life on the surface of the earth. Secondly, many human electronic products now need to rely on the Earth's magnetic field to function properly, such as communication and positioning systems. Since ancient times, humans have learned to use the Earth's magnetic field to identify the direction, and the introduction of the compass is the most powerful evidence.

If the magnetic field is abnormal, then many electronic products related to positioning and navigation will not work. Like humans, many animals in nature rely on the Earth's magnetic field for orientation and directional discrimination, most of which are birds and flying insects. If the Earth's magnetic field anomalies, these animals rely on the magnetic field to identify the direction will encounter a survival crisis. The dent in the Earth's magnetic field is unlikely to be restored in a short time, so this situation may lead to the endangerment or even extinction of a large number of species.

If the Earth loses its magnetic field, what will happen to human beings?

In this day and age, as long as the Earth has some anomalies, it is easy to cause the public to worry about the future. after NASA scientists discovered a magnetic field dent in the South Atlantic, many foreign users began to imagine an extreme situation, if the Earth's magnetic field disappeared, what should humans do? If you want to continue to live, you must leave the Earth before the magnetic field completely disappears. So where can humans go? To a planet that has been transformed in advance.

At present, it seems likely that this planet is Mars, because the three closest to the Earth, the natural environment of Venus is the most severe, the moon's situation is second, and the situation of Mars is considered short inside the tall, to meet the requirements of human survival, its basic conditions are still far from, but scientists hold the confidence of its transformation. Why else has the United States been insisting on exploring Mars for the past 40 years or so? In a way, there is still some hope for Mars.

Some people may say that even if there is hope for humans to transform the natural environment of Mars and create a place suitable for human survival, it will take hundreds or even thousands of years, is it all too late? It seems from the Earth's past magnetic field changes that a complete magnetic field reversal would take millions of years, so as long as humans have been surviving on Earth during this long period, they have the opportunity to keep developing technologies and improving their space exploration capabilities.

What hope does Mars offer humanity?

Mars has always been a planet that makes humans feel contradictory. on the one hand, many scientists and business tycoons are full of expectations to immigrate to Mars, and on the other hand, the exploration information of Mars proves that the planet is not habitable. in 2009, the British newspaper "The Times" reported a public speech by Elon Musk, the founder of the American space exploration technology company, who for the first time publicly stated that he wanted to, in the next twenty years achieve a manned landing on Mars, with the long-term goal of achieving Martian immigration.

Not only Musk, but NASA also believes that the future of the Mars migration plan is promising. You may have doubts, Mars does not meet the most basic requirements for the survival of life on Earth, why do scientists still have hope for it? This starts with the basic information about Mars. From the outside, Mars is an orange-red planet, which is why it is called "Mars". Mars is only 15% of Earth's size, 11% of Earth's mass, and 38% of Earth's gravity.

At first glance, these figures are not attractive, but they make Mars seem too "small". First, Mars has a thin atmosphere, although 95% of its composition is carbon dioxide, its atmospheric density is only 1% of the density of the Earth's atmosphere, so the greenhouse effect on Mars is not obvious, but for green plants on Mars to take root in a good atmospheric environment.

Secondly, the period of one revolution on Mars is 24.63 hours, and it has four distinct seasons like the Earth, with the lowest temperature reaching -125 degrees Celsius in winter and the highest temperature reaching 22 degrees Celsius in summer. Furthermore, scientists have demonstrated the existence of large ice caps at the north and south poles of Mars, which, if utilized slightly, could be an important raw material for human modification of the Martian environment. In addition, there are many oxidized substances on the surface of Mars, humans can use these oxides as raw materials to create oxygen and metals through chemical reactions.

For a long time, Mars gives people the impression of a barren planet, but scientists have found through a large amount of exploration data, Mars still contains relatively rich resources. For example, the wind energy on Mars is richer than that on Earth, so humans can develop wind power generation on Mars; Mars also has geothermal energy, and can also use the heavy hydrogen produced by geothermal energy as raw material for nuclear power generation. As humans learn more and more about Mars, their confidence in migrating to Mars is becoming clearer and clearer.

Can Mars immigration be realized?

Humans can indeed survive on Mars, but for a very limited time, is the conclusion reached by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A team of five researchers at MIT analyzed the data from the Dutch space launch company Mars One in-depth, and finally came up with a 35-page report that concluded that humans can go to Mars, but immigration to Mars is not possible.

Scientists involved in the study said that humans from the Earth to Mars to the plants can only produce a limited amount of oxygen, this oxygen can only support human survival on Mars for a maximum of two months, and two months later soon someone will die because of lack of oxygen. In addition, transporting supplies to Mars is also a huge challenge. With at least 55 million kilometers separating Earth from Mars, it would take at least seven months to cross that distance, and the limited amount of materials available for each shipment would lead to increased transportation costs.

Researchers at MIT agree that humans are not fully prepared to migrate to Mars and have very limited technological readiness. Thus, it seems that we do not have to be too optimistic about immigration to Mars, or based on the current opportunity to survive, to solve the ecological problems of the Earth.