Old Bumbulum
Well-known member
Lets face it, science will always have egg on its face over the electron débâcle.
Do tell, I suspect most of us can't face this as we've no idea what it is!
Lets face it, science will always have egg on its face over the electron débâcle.
Do tell, I suspect most of us can't face this as we've no idea what it is!
Do tell, I suspect most of us can't face this as we've no idea what it is!
The Earth's off its axis! - We're doomed! … DOOMED!
Don't panic! Don't panic! ………. :encouragement:
Although I'm not sure why you're quoting me rather than AntarcticPilot .... I was the one who ended my post with a smiley.
Richard
This thread reminds me strongly of a time when I was an undergraduate on an expedition to Spitzbergen. Six of the party were geologists, and four weren't. Our camp had an excellent view of some highly deformed rocks, and one evening we were discussing the processes that had given rise to the deformation. This was when plate tectonics was a new and exciting idea, and we were speaking of continents colliding and rocks being squeezed and crushed. One of the non-geologists listened with big, round eyes, and eventually remarked ".Gee, it must have been real exciting round here when all that was happening!"
We geologists looked at each other, and then one of us quietly asked "How long do you think it all took?" - of course, the events we had been discussing took tens or hundreds of millions of years, with the change even over a lifetime being imperceptible!
Yes, we expect the magnetic pole to flip from the present polarity to the opposite sometime, but the change will happen at rates comparable to the existing rates of change. There may be a period when the magnetic field is weak, but it won't be nothing. And the change will be slow enough that we will simply adapt, just as we adapt to the variation of the compass at present.
Certainly it is nothing to worry about!
Are you sure? The resolution of indicators of past magnetic inversions are nowhere near sufficiently precise to define a timescale in terms of millennial, decadal, annual or even instantaneous shifting. The term "geological timescale" is misleading: the K/Pg impact, which was certainly a geological event, was over in less than an hour.
Does that mean the North Mag Pole meandered south but then went back north without really hanging about down south?the period of reversal lasted about 440 years, and the transition took about 250 years.
That's exactly what it means. Short-lived events like this (called excursions) are known from the record.Does that mean the North Mag Pole meandered south but then went back north without really hanging about down south?
Derek
Although an old post ... You miss the point of GPS cog. Cog is what average course the GPS aerial Has Been steering recently. The compass shows the direction of the ships head. Both are useful but different. You cannot steer by cog. You will always be chasing a historic path. A well damped compass is much better for the helm to steer by.GPS does show direction, too.
I've never looked at my compass in 11 years of sailing ..... and have always arrived at my chosen destination without ever hitting anything ..... other than the sand.You cannot steer by cog.
But if your chart is ten years old, the variation would be seven degrees.Thanks, but 50km is only 0.7 degrees where i am in the UK so not that significant to me.
Www.solocoastalsailing.co.uk
This was before the last polar flip.Oops... good spot Norman. Thanks!
Copy them on to transparent paper and flip them vertically?
My old science teacher taught me that the pole marked "N" on a magnet was correctly called the " North-Seeking Pole."But perhaps the North pointing end of a compass is actually a magnetic South pole and we only call it North because that's the way it points.
Richard
I do not doubt you.I've never looked at my compass in 11 years of sailing ..... and have always arrived at my chosen destination without ever hitting anything ..... other than the sand.
Richard
Not just Santa and the Elves. Polar bears and penguins will have to switch places.Does this mean Santa and his elves will have to move too?
Don't worry. There are TWO magnetic North Poles! There is the Dip Pole, which is where the Earth's magnetic field lines are vertical and there's the Geomagnetic Pole, which is the pole of the average magnetic field of the Earth. The latter is what compasses point to (to a first approximation; it gets more complicated!). The Dip Pole (or North Magnetic Pole) is the one that's moving; the North Geomagnetic Pole (to which compasses point) is moving much slower, and the data on charts is still perfectly valid.But if your chart is ten years old, the variation would be seven degrees.
I assume the accelleration of polar movement was not noticed until relatively recently and the variation predicted on older charts is now out of date. The main learning from this discussion is that if, like me, you prefer paper charts, it's time to buy new ones.