Did you know that the Earth’s magnetic field has reversed or flipped?

We have two poles on Earth i.e. the north pole and the south pole, if they have reversed or flipped, this means that they switched places! If this reversal occurs, our magnetic field is weakened which could allow more cosmic rays to reach the planet. A rotating electric current will create a magnetic field.  The liquid metal in the outer core of the Earth creates electric currents and the Earth's rotation makes these electric currents form a magnetic field.  Since the 1800s the Earth’s magnetic field has seen a downward trend and some suggestions have been made that we could possibly be experiencing early signs of another reversal.

New Study 

Over the last 10 million years there have been approximately 4-5 reversals per million years. Volcanic rocks provide information on the magnetic patterns of Earth but recently researchers acquired cross sections from Kauri trees in New Zealand and analysed them for Carbon-14. A study published by the journal Science on February 19^th this year, suggests that the last reversal took place approximately 42,000 years ago and that this flipping may have triggered a cascade of environmental crises on Earth! Its the first study to link a change in the Earth's magnetic pole to large scale environmental changes.

This recent study has caused much excitement amongst scientists on the theories it presents and further investigations that may follow as a result.

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