Are we gonna die?

R

RedXIII

New member
I know eventually we all will, but take a look at this.

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash1.htm

NYT: COLLAPSE OF THE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD ACCELERATES
Mon Jul 12 2004 18:17:38 ET

The collapse of the earth's magnetic field, which both guards the planet and guides many of its creatures, appears to have started in earnest about 150 years ago, the NY TIMES is planning to report on Page Ones Tuesday.

Science reporter Bill Broad has filed a report, according to newsroom sources, which explores how: 'The field's strength has waned 10 percent to 15 percent so far and this deterioration has accelerated of late, increasing debate over whether it portends a reversal of the lines of magnetic force that normally envelop the earth."

Broad explains: "During a reversal, the main field weakens, almost vanishes, and then reappears with opposite polarity. Afterward, compass needles that normally point north would point south, and during the thousands of years of transition much in the heavens and Earth would go askew."

Broad claims: "A reversal could knock out power grids, hurt astronauts and satellites, widen atmospheric ozone holes, send polar auroras flashing to the equator and confuse birds, fish and migratory animals that rely on the steadiness of the magnetic field as a navigation aid."

Developing...



<P ID="signature">
ZD2000.jpg
</P>
 
Heh, that sounds like the type of hooey you'd read in the Weekly World News :)

We're all going to die. That's guaranteed. It'll probably be thousands of years before the thing in the article happens, if it does.

It would be neat if some type of catastrophic earth-altering experience happened while I was alive to see it though.

<P ID="signature">--
Disclaimer: The opinions displayed here are those of an asexual. Sex/relationship advice may be inaccurate.
--
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psf_rippers/</P>
 
> It'll probably be thousands of years before the thing in the article
> happens, if it does.


I remember reading the earths' magnetic poles reverse every few thousand years or so... but I could be wrong... maybe spaceTiger could fill us in on this story

<P ID="signature"><center>
sig not found...</center></P>
 
> I remember reading the earths' magnetic poles reverse every
> few thousand years or so... but I could be wrong... maybe
> spaceTiger could fill us in on this story

Roughly every 500,000 years....but the process can take hundreds, possibly thousands of years.....its not as if all of a sudden up becomes down, but a gradual weakening of the magnetic field, then a shift and strengthening.....dont worry about it--you'll be dead. That and it won't be catastrophic...might kill off a few billion or so, but not a total wipe out of life.


<P ID="signature"><div align="center">
ZMD.gif

...the way to be!</div></P>
 
>>>
Roughly every 500,000 years....but the process can take
hundreds, possibly thousands of years.....its not as if all
of a sudden up becomes down, but a gradual weakening of the
magnetic field, then a shift and strengthening.....dont
worry about it--you'll be dead. That and it won't be
catastrophic...might kill off a few billion or so, but not a
total wipe out of life.
>>>

Reminds me of The Day After Tomorrow..

<P ID="signature"></P>
 
Read the http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/13/science/13magn.htmlfull article</a>. The process takes hundreds to thousands of years to develop. Even if it's true, it's not something you'll have to worry about.

I'm skeptical as to whether this will actually happen in the next thousand or so years. You have to remember that when you read something like this in a newspaper article, it's being reported because it's an astonishing result. If someone wrote an equivalent paper saying that the reversal wouldn't happen, it wouldn't make it into the news, so for all we know this could be a minority view amongst geophysicists. Also, note that the last one occurred 780,000 years ago. Theories putting humans at a special place in space or time are highly suspect.

Finally, I'm a bit put off by the fact that the scientists are saying we're "overdue" for another reversal. The earth's magnetic dynamo is not understood to the point where we can put it on a definite cycle. If the reversals are caused by more random factors (which is very likely), then it's no more appropriate to say that you're "due" for a reversal than it is to say you're "due" for heads after flipping tails three times in a row.

<P ID="signature">
tiger5.gif
</P>
 
I rolled 3 yatzees in a row once, so I figured I was "due" to win the lottery. So I bought a ticket, and I didn't win. I did, however, win at Yatzee. --- brilliant words, from a brilliant man.

<P ID="signature"></P>
 
> speak for yourself, mortal

The lives of 10,000 men I've walked this earth... and now I don't have any time.


<P ID="signature"></P>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom