The earth's magnetic field protects life on earth. Why does the earth have a magnetic field?

In addition to water resources and atmosphere, the reason why life can exist on the earth is a very important magnetic field.

Although the magnetic field cannot be seen or touched, it can block the charged particles in the universe, guide the charged particles in the universe through the magnetic field, and guide them to the south and north poles, thereby producing auroras, and can also protect life on Earth from additional radiation.

The solar system has many planets, but most of the planets cannot have water resources, an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and a magnetic field at the same time like the earth. So why can the earth have a magnetic field? This is mainly because of the special structure of the earth.

The inner structure of the earth:

The formation of the Earth's magnetic field mainly originates from the Earth's inner core.

The inner core of the earth is filled with a large amount of radioactive elements. These radioactive elements not only radiate outward, but also heat the temperature of the inner core of the earth, and then melt the surrounding metals such as iron and nickel to form a liquid outer core.

The outer core is made of flowing metal, so a conductive liquid forms outside the Earth's inner core. Exciting electrons through the radiation of radioactive elements in the core will cause an electric current to appear in the outer core of the earth. After the electric current is formed, a magnetic field will be generated outside the earth.

According to this theory, the Earth's magnetic field is also time-limited.

Radioactive elements all have half-lives, and over time, radioactive elements will gradually decay and eventually become non-radioactive elements, which will also cause the temperature of the Earth's core to gradually drop.

The decrease in temperature will bring about the cooling and solidification of the metal in the outer core of the earth. If the metal liquid is lost, the current inside the earth will gradually weaken until it disappears, and the earth's magnetic field will also weaken, and eventually the magnetic field will be lost.

Without the protection of the magnetic field, can the earth continue to survive?

The role of Earth's magnetic field is not only to protect Earth's life from additional radiation, blocking charged particles from directly hitting the atmosphere, but also to stabilize the atmosphere.

If the protection of the magnetic field is lost, the radiation of the sun and the high-energy radiation from the universe will continuously hit the gas molecules of the earth's atmosphere, gradually stripping the atmosphere from the earth's surface into space.

According to scientists' data, if the earth loses its magnetic field, within 100 years, the atmosphere will be stripped, and life on earth will tend to become extinct.

In the solar system, Mars is a planet very close to the Earth's environment, but Mars has no magnetic field protection, so it cannot protect the atmosphere on the planet's surface.

Many scientists believe that ancient Mars had the same magnetic field as Earth, but over time, Mars' core cooled completely and Mars lost its protection.

After Mars lost its magnetic field, the surface atmosphere was stripped away in a short period of time, losing the protection of the atmosphere, and the water on the surface of the planet evaporated quickly, eventually becoming a barren planet, but scientists can still see the remaining traces of rivers and lakes on the surface of Mars .

Summarize:

Life can exist on earth because of various necessary conditions, which miraculously appeared on earth.

However, the life that the earth can carry is limited, and the time that the earth can sustain is also very limited. The earth’s magnetic field has requirements for the reserves of radioactive elements in the earth’s core. With the decay of radioactive elements, the earth’s magnetic field will eventually disappear. However, scientists do not currently know exactly what is happening in the Earth's inner core, so it is still unknown when the Earth's magnetic field will disappear.

In addition to the limitations within the earth, the stars of the solar system also have lifespan limitations, and the universe also has risks such as asteroid collisions and galaxy collisions. If humans want to survive in the universe for a long time, they must find the next home suitable for survival!