The Earth’s Magnetic Field
By: Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
5/4/2009
The common magnetic compass needle responds and gives evidence to the existence of
the earth’s weak magnetic field. That field is only a few hundredths of a gauss,
and the location of the magnetic North and South pole is offset from the rotational
axis of the earth by thousands of miles.
Magnetic fields are produced by charges moving through space. Thus, since the earth
has a magnetic field, the earth must have a net charge distributed inside the earth,
on, or above it that generates this field as the earth rotates through space.
One possibility is that this charge accumulation is due to cosmic rays and UV rays
striking the molecules in the upper atmosphere. Another possibility is that a positive
and negative charge accumulation arises forms between the clouds and earth due to
the friction of air and water molecules, which of course results in the formation
of lightning. But, since the magnetic field of the Earth is somewhat stable, and
charges in the upper atmosphere and at cloud and surface level vary greatly over
a 24 hour period, it is unlikely that the source of the earth’s magnetic fields is
the movement of atmospheric charges.
A second possibility is that a net charge separation is produced by convective movement
of the molten earth’s core, thus generating a somewhat stable pattern of charge separation
deep within the interior of the planet.
Assume that a positive charge accumulates deep within the earth, and a negative charge
accumulates more superficially. The more superficial charges will have a higher
tangential velocity for any given angular velocity because of being farther away
from the center of the rotating body. The positive charges that accumulate in the
center of the earth will have a correspondingly lower tangential velocity. Thus,
the earth should develop a net magnetic field because of the greater magnetic field
produced by the negative charges on the surface compared to the smaller magnetic
field opposing it developed from the positive charges rotating a slower speed internally.
Again, the outer shell distribution of negative charge, and an inner core positioning
of positive charge will result in the negative charges producing a N-S pole in the
opposite direction to the N-S pole generated by the positive charges in the center
of the earth. But, because of the difference in the tangential velocity of the inner
charge and outer charge, the magnetic field generated by outer, faster moving, charges
will produce a net magnetic field.
The mechanism of producing this charge separation may be the movement of the magma
against the crust. The friction of the two layers moving against each other may
allow a net charge to develop between these two layers.
The next question is how charge could separate in a conductive medium such as molten
iron at the center of the earth. The answer may be that in the outer layers, the
molten rock is not as conductive as iron, and thus acts more as a dielectric insulator.
The non conductive nature of the molten rock allows a charge separation to form,
although there is undoubtedly some charge leakage between the two separated layers.
Once the charge separation is formed, the rotation of the earth’s crust in relationship
to space at a greater velocity than the deeper charge would provide the movement
of charge through space required to generate the earth’s magnetic fields.
The foundation of this theory is that charge moving through space generates a magnetic
field. This is somewhat problematic for conventional theory because the positive
and negative charges are in an essentially stationary position with relationship
to each other. Thus, to accommodate this phenomena, we must hypothesize an underlying
theory of magnetic field generation that produces such an effect.
Generation of Magnetic Fields:
The movement of charge produces a magnetic field, which is a well accepted phenomenon.
The implication of a moving charge is that it is moving in relationship to a frame
of reference. The most common frame of reference is the laboratory frame, in which
case charges are moving in relationship to the the test equipment, target, or wires.
But the adequacy of such a choice of reference frame is challenged by the two parallel
wire experiment, where two wires, both carrying the same DC current are attracted
together. Clearly the magnetic fields generated by the two currents are not considering
the relative non-movement of the charge in the other wire when considering whether
to produce a net magnetic field or not. In other words, any movement of charge produces
a net magnetic field. This may imply that the magnetic field is generated by its
movement in relationship to the Absolute frame.
In the case of the magnetic field generated by the earth’s rotation, due to the separation
of charges between the surface and deeper structures, that the magnetic field was
due to the angular velocity, and the translational velocity of the earth through
space.
