"Ever wondered what if the Earth lost its magnetic field?" This question was presented to me today on Discovery Channal. Again a fluke 'discovery' when I was sitting on the sofa, absolutely bored and channal surfing during commercial breaks during Disney's "The Proud Family". I managed to give the question a thought while the narrator droned on and on for a full minute on why he was smarter than me (he knew the answer! obviously) without answering the question. I have always thought that the Earth's magmetic field is a pain in the ass. If there wasn't any magnetic field, there would be no compass and all army boys would have to be equiped with GPS (global positioning satellite) navigational systems. Gone will be the days where I'll get lost in the forest with a compass in my left hand and a map in the right (i failed map reading by the way in secondary school). But I am just being naive. The truth is..I have absolutely no idea why darling Earth even have a magnetic field. A very very weak one at that too. But today, I learned something that really shocked me.

Earth's magnetic field, like the Ozone layer is essential to our survivial even if at first glance it serves no purpose. The reason is simple. The earth's magnetic field shields us from solar flares, solar winds and cosmic radiation. In the absense of a field, Earth's atmosphere would slowly get eroded away by solar winds from the sun (eventually becoming as dry as Mars), get bombarded by solar radiation (UV rays..eyt), and get scorched by solar flares (totally scorched. As in...baked. Microwaved). But thats not all. WIthout the magnetic field shielding the planet, high energy electromagnetic storms would occure due to the build up of ions in the Earth's atmosphere. And basically, now that I know the perils of not having a magnetic field, the next logical question would be..what on earth causes this magnetic field? Well, geography books tells us that beneath the Earth's surface, there is the mantle, the outer core and the inner core. What they neglected to mention is the outer core is some molten liquid metal (probably iron and a mixture of other stuff) and it is in constant motion. Ok. Heres where it gets complicated. I don't exactly know the whole process and the idea is only theoratical since no one can get to the Earth's core to see for themselves what really goes on down there. The leading theory is for magnetic fields to be generated, there must be a current (secondary 4 physics I think..). Next, The magnetic field generated will probably do something (I'm not exactly sure here) which will keep the molten liquid in constant motion which will generate currents which will generate magnetic fields...and so on. In short, its a self sustaining engine. Since it is only a theory, university professors have been trying to replicate the workings of the Earth's core by making their own sustained core that would generate both electricity and magnetic fields. Unfortunately, they have thus far failed in their experiments but still, this theory is still probably the only theory for the magnetic field surrounding Earth.

Besides, be it chance that when I went to my cousin's house earlier today, I borrowed this really wonderful film from him. Its titled 'The Core'. (for sickos like me out there, no its not a HARDcore porno flick). The show is about what happens when Earth's puter core stops its motion and ceases to produce electromagnetic fields. Yeap. I would say its fate that I chanced upon this film just as I watched Discovery Channal's very own program. ANyways, half the film is really pure fantasy stuff (like armegeddon. theoratically possible but practically impossible). The the lead actor and actress didn't elope in the end. Definitely shitty stuff in my book. Haha.