What effect on society will there be if our magnetic poles flipped?
Throughout Earth’s history, the magnetic poles have periodically flipped, i.e. magnetic north goes to the South Pole and magnetic south goes to the North Pole. I read that we will soon be passing through the plane of rotation for the Milky Way, and I hypothesize this might trigger our poles to flip. What kind of effect could this have on our society, considering are increasing reliance on electronic devices?
By: Mercer Devil
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Filed under Earth Sciences & Geology by on Dec 22nd, 2009. 
Comments on What effect on society will there be if our magnetic poles flipped?
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Well, first of all the Earth’s magnetism will o to zero before flipping. This will mean complete depletion of the ozone layer, and cosmic rays will pass right through the atmosphere. The moment you step out of the house, you will look like “an overcooked pizza” to quote Bill Bryson. The Earth’s magnetism does flip once every 500 million years or so, but there are enough lucky survivors to prevent extinctions.
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Our planet’s position in the galaxy has nothing to do with our magnet north. The magnetic north wander is due to whats happening within the interior of our planet. As for societal influence, we may need to buy new compasses.
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Nothing will happen of significance to us. Your compass would point south instead of north.
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You will have to paint the other end of your compass needle red.
Will have no effect on aircraft (GPS and INS don’t use a compass), solar radiation (magnetosphere will still work)
Very few electronic devices rely on natural polarity: most induce it artificially.
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Not a massive amount. The magnetic field is induced by the rotation of the earth’s core (and inherent magnetism in certain rock types) and has nothing to do with the earth’s position in the Milky Way. Most electronic devices don’t work using the magnetic field so that won’t cause a major problem.
The only issue is with the protection the magnetic field offers and even then it depends what theory you believe. One states that the field strength does not change in a reversal which means nothing will happen. However, the general consensus is that the strength of the dipole field (induced by earth’s core) will drop to about 10% of current strength. This reduces the protection from the solar wind (NOT solar radiation which is completely different) which could result in increased cancer rates, not significant enough to destroy society but will cut population and increase medical expense.