I was following the
informative discussion on the listserv today morning when one of my undergraduate
teaching assistants dropped by... someone in her physics class asked the prof. a
question about geomagnetic reversal, and the professor responded that “there
is no evidence of the earth’s magnetic field ever switching.” My
student did not know whether to laugh or to cry... and at this point I don’t
know either. What makes matters worse is that this physics professor is a “magnet
guy” so his opinions will be taken at face value in this particular respect.
This professor doesn’t
believe in evolution as well... somehow that doesn’t surprise me. I only
hope all these visualization resources will help me counter this misconception
when these students enroll in my intro geology course.
Sigh
juk
**************************************************
“It is precisely for this that I love geology.
It is infinite and ill-defined: like poetry, it immerses itself in mysteries
and floats among them without drowning. It does not manage to lay bare
the unknown, but it flaps the surrounding veils to and fro, and every so often
gleams of light escape and dazzle one’s vision.”
R. Töpffer,
Nouvelles genevoises (1841)
Dr. Prajukti (juk) Bhattacharyya
Assistant professor
Department of Geography
and Geology
Upham Hall 119
800 Main St.
Ph: (262) 472-5257
Email: [log in to unmask]
************************************************
From: GEOEDUCATION
RESEARCH INTEREST GROUP [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of tibi marin
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
8:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: good visualizations
of the Earth's magnetic field?
Thanks Cathy very informative and useful not just for Tom
but for us as well. Have a nice Day Tibi
Tibi Marin
"Today the human
race is a single twig on the tree of life, a single species on a single planet.
Our condition can thus only be described as extremely fragile, endangered by
forces of nature currently beyond our control, our own mistakes, and other branches
of the wildly blossoming tree itself. Looked at this way, we can then pose the
question of the future of humanity on Earth, in the solar system, and in the
galaxy from the standpoint of both evolutionary biology and human nature. The
conclusion is straightforward: Our choice is to grow, branch, spread and
develop, or stagnate and die."
Robert Zubrin, Entering Space, 1999
----- Original Message
----
From: Cathy Manduca <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tuesday, March 4, 2008 4:45:03 PM
Subject: Re: good visualizations of the Earth's magnetic field?
Here are a variety of approaches to this:
and here is a visualizaiton of model data:
Cathy
On Mar 4, 2008, at 3:01 PM, Eric J. Pyle wrote:
If you wish to see an idealized version (without the influence of the
solar wind), you can use Celestia with the magnetic field add-on. The
basic program can be found at http://www.shatters.net/celestia and the addon at http://www.celestiamotherlode.com.
There are a couple of tweaks to the add-on that allow you to show (or not)
various field lines and particle pathways.
Regards,
Eric Pyle
---- Original message ----
Date: Tue, 4 Mar
2008 12:13:30 -0800
From: Tom-Pierre Frappé <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: good visualizations of
the Earth's magnetic field?
To: [log in to unmask]
>Hi all,
>
>I am teaching an online course ( university level, 3rd year). My
>students are having a lot of difficulty visualizing the geomagnetic
>field, and making sense of how the declination/inclination changes
>spatially.
>
>Does anyone knows of good online visualization for the magnetic field of
>the Earth?
>
>3D would be best, and interactive simulations would be ideal, but I
>might be wishing for the moon... you can email me your suggestions off
>list, I'll compile them and send a summary back to the list-serve.
>
>many thanks for your suggestions!
>Tom-Pierre
>
>--
>Tom-Pierre Frappé
>EOS-Science Education Initiative / ECAC & EOSC114 Administrator
>Dept. Earth and Ocean Sciences
>
>
>
>V6T 1Z4,
>
>Phone:(604)822-3063
>fax: (604)822-6047
>[log in to unmask]
>
>
Dr.
Cathryn A Manduca
Director,
Executive
Director, National Association of Geoscience Teachers
507
646-7096
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