cem@intelca.UUCP (Chuck McManis) (06/15/84)
Actually there are various levels of strata in the crust that exhibit
magnetically aligned elements, which first gave evidence that the poles
were not always in their current North-South configuration. However
all of these were either aligned with north as we know it or directly
opposite, (within some margin of 5-15 degrees I recall but can't state
as a definite fact) There were NO elements aligned in what are considered
east and west directions. Therefore the poles were hypothesized to have
shifted in a Geological nanosecond (probably no more than a year). Why
do they align on the rotational access? Who knows, but they seem to
only align in that way.
Random thought : What would it be like living in an equatorial area where
you were at the bottom of an electromagnetic funnel, as the north pole
is now?
--
-- Chuck McManis Disclaimer : All opinions expressed herein are my
own and not those of my employer, my
ARPAnet : "hplabs!intelca!cem"@Berkeley friends, or my avacado plant.
{ihnp4,fortune}!Dual! proper! idi! {ucbvax,hao}!hplabs!
\ \ \ \
------------------------------------ intelca!cem giles@ucf-cs.UUCP (Bruce Giles) (06/17/84)
>> Random thought : What would it be like living in an equatorial area >> where you were at the bottom of an electromagnetic funnel, as the >> north pole is now? Maybe that is the reason the magnetic poles are always aligned with the rotational poles! How strongly does the earth's magnetic field couple with the solar magnetic field and solar wind? Would pressure from the solar wind alone be enough to quickly force the earth's magnetic field to align? ----------- bruce giles {decvax, duke}!ucf-cs!giles university of central florida giles.ucf-cs@Rand-Relay orlando, florida 32816