Alternatively, what would happen if the loss of magnetism instead happened gradually over a period of time?
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Finally, some good news!
Magnetism is “just” the ability of some elements to line up their fields so that the effects are felt beyond their electron shells. It’s much more complex than that, but magnetism is in all matter, just some more than others. For it to stop at any rate would be like changing a constant of the universe. I would imagine very quickly things would be very different and we wouldn’t be around to witness it.
We wouldn’t be on the internet talking about it, that’s for sure. Electricity wouldn’t exist anymore outside of lightning.
We just lost all data still being stored on magnetic drives and mediums.
Compasses just became useless.
A lot of medical and scientific equipment suddenly stopped working.
The MagSafe charger on my computer just fell off.
No more fridge magnets.
No more iPad covers.
FML
Exactly. This is clearly the biggest problem. Who cares if every atom in the entire universe gets shredded in a new big bang when the screen of my iPad might get scratched next time I toss it in my bag.
Or fridge doors closing properly.
Not gyrocompasses that things like planes and missiles uses, just the kind low tech hikers use.
…more than just the magnets… …it’s all electromagnetic pulses… …even brain-thought… …everything would stop…
what if … no electromagnetic field all of a sudden? dense.
love you
Electricity and magnetism are the exact same thing. A non moving charge creates an observed static electric field. A moving charge creates an observed magnetic field. So if you were moving next to the charge as it went down a wire, you would see no charge moving. No charge moving means no magnetic field.
They only look different because things get distorted moving at near light speed relative to you. It would be like if we gave two different names to a police siren based on whether you were listening standing next to it or listening as it zoomed past you.
All electricity generation would stop
What did they all get wet or something?
Not only that, Insane Clown Posse would cease to exist.
We very quickly die from intense solar radiation
Not quickly, the atmosphere itself would actually protect us for a while (I had to look into this to explain to my conspiracy-oriented parents that a pole reversal would not kill everyone). But if the magnetosphere was gone for good, solar wind would strip the atmosphere from the planet over time, as happened to Mars. We would probably all have to retreat to underground caves and domed cities sealed to keep the pressure high enough to live.
Well, without the magnetic field from the earths core protecting us from harmful solar radiation, in the short term I think there would be a lot of cancer deaths and in the long term the earth would be stripped of it’s atmosphere like Mars was.
I want an xkcd what if video of this
You’re talking about a change in one of the fundamental forces that govern the universe. Things would start falling apart at the atomic level, including in your brain. I don’t know that you would remain conscious for long enough to observe anything. I don’t think anyone could tell you what would happen because we’d literally have to re-calculate physics without electromagnetism. I don’t even know that that’s within the scope of human imagination.
This whole post is giving me writing ideas. Interesting thought experiment.
A lot of kids’ art on the ground
Magneto would be very, very sad.
