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Why does the earth even have a magnetic field?

Why do compasses work if the Earth has such a weak magnetic field?

  • How do compasses work if the Earth has such a weak magnetic field? Seems like since Earth has only 1/2 a Guass of magnetic energy, it seems like compasses "should not" work since nowadays, our society has so many man-made things that generate much more magnetic power... Seems like magnetic interference would skew any compass in today's times.... but they don't... they seem to always work... so why? Serious answers please.

  • Answer:

    Indeed compasses do not work if close enough to other sources of magnetism than Earth's background magnetic field. BUT, if FAR ENOUGH from these other sources, then you can actually measure Earth's background magnetic field. There is a FALL-OFF of any magnetic field based upon distance from the source. Usually, it is inversely proportional to the distance, although it can become inversely proportional to the square of the distance, depending on the nature of the source of magnetism.

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well actually angle of inclination and angle of dip is very important thing to be considered regarding magnetic needles.....however in the present situation local attraction affects the working of needle but the magnetic field factor of the earth i.e., "H" is very strong because of the rotation of the earth and the core effect... but still i wud go for GPS.... \m/ :)

Swarnkamal

while earth may have comparatively lower magnetic field, its structure is so vast to anything comparable to man made things that it overcomes howsoever great fields these things have.

sarp

good question,you saw the limit of this law ...so the magnetic field must be more complicate that in the physics book(weak or not weak isn`t all,it must have other characteristics as well)

Nico Nicolai

my compass was spinning in circles last time I looked at it...so I trust my GPS now!

Josh T

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