Is it true the Earths poles will swap polarity in the near future?

As in the magnetism will switch so compases point in opposite directions.





And as a side point will we turn maps upside down?





Please tell me I haven't made this up...Is it true the Earths poles will swap polarity in the near future?
Yes, as it has occurred before, and ';near future'; is a relative term, it may take a few 1000's of years.





Why would we need to turn maps around? North being ';up'; is a totally arbitrary decision, which is not based on the magnetic field. As for compass, we will simply have the red end point South and the green North and that would not make much difference3--either that or you buy a new compass with the magnetic bar labeled the opposite way.





The major problem would be for the migratory birds who have a bit of magnetite in their head to feel where the North is. They will be a fit confused for a few years.Is it true the Earths poles will swap polarity in the near future?
Yes it is true. Although i don't know everything on the matter i do know that in the past 30 or so years the earth poles have moved about 20-30 degrees further away from true north and south. And that when the poles do switch we could be plunged into another ice age, for reasons which i don't know
I'm not sure about the ';near future'; but it will certainly happen - has done quite a lot in the past.
As polarity switches, a process that can take roughly a couple thousand years, the poles begin to spiral away from the true north and begin to weaken as a couple previously alluded to. Then the poles will completely disappear. There will be no ice age caused by this but the earth's magnetosphere that helps protect us from cosmic rays will be neutralized and therefore the cancer rates will probably increase. The magnetic field is thought to be caused by eddies of convection currents in the outer liquid metal (mostly iron) outer core. This spinning eddy forms a kind of dynamo. As the earth spins, some eddies become aligned with the earth's axis and form a net magnetic pole. During reversals, that net effect is missing. There is still magnetism generated by the earth's outer core, it is simply random in orientation.
There hasn't been one for a while and the indications are, due to polar wandering and an increasing weakness in the Earth's magnetic field, that it won't be long before there is another one.





There are two theories -





The first states that the magnetic polarity reverses, the second that the Earth actually tilts on its axis so the North Pole actually moves to the position of the South Pole.





Should be pretty interesting when it does happen in either event!
well, in fact i don't think the earth will swap polarity!! indeed, the axis the of earth has been rotated due to the 1994 event!!! i.e when an asteorite was abt to hit the earth but instead hit jupiter due to its much larger gravitetional field than the earth!!!





then, the impact of that collision made the earth tilt a little!!!





but to swap polarity, well, that seems quite impossible, at least for the near future!! lol......(jupiter will hav to suffer a lot


:-)...
It is certainly true that the Earth's magnetic field has reversed itself many times in the past (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_m鈥?/a> I've never heard of a predictive model for it though.


Most likely the only consequence is that the labels on a compass needle would be swapped.
Very likely, but ';near'; is likely to be in terms of geological time, not next year!


There seems to be virtually a new subject, I'd call it ';computational geomagnetodynamics';, which does indeed predict reversals of the field due to processes within the earth, and there is geological evidence that this has happened in the past (from magnetism ';frozen'; in volcanic rock). You didn't make it up...


But we won't turn maps, because the earth's geographic north pole is defined by its rotation, not its magnetic field, and won't change.
Near future in geological time. Longer than anyone reading this will be able to wait, though.