Magnetic fields act as the first line of defense against the solar wind. Charged particles in the solar wind are deflected around Earth’s magnetic field while a small fraction are directed in toward the poles. This is why aurora can be seen near the north and south poles.
The magnetosphere is very important to everyone on the planet because it keeps most solar wind that could hurt power and satellites away from the Earth; charged particles coming out of the Sun have to follow the rules and can not jump from one field line to the next to get down to Earth.
When the liquid iron core of Mars cooled and solidified it stopped generating a magnetic field all that is left is a little residual ferromagnetism from the rocks of the Martian crust.
Earth has a liquid core surrounding its solid iron core (actually an alloy of iron and nickel). The liquid core is rotating and that rotation causes movements within the liquid causing the core to generate the electrical currents that provide our magnetic field.
Mars originally had the same arrangement of liquid core surrounding a solid core, so it also generated its own field. Being smaller Mars cooled much quicker than earth, eventually the liquid cooled and stopped generating a magnetic field.
The magnetosphere is very important to everyone on the planet because it keeps most solar wind that could hurt power and satellites away from the Earth; charged particles coming out of the Sun have to follow the rules and can not jump from one field line to the next to get down to Earth.
When the liquid iron core of Mars cooled and solidified it stopped generating a magnetic field all that is left is a little residual ferromagnetism from the rocks of the Martian crust.
Earth has a liquid core surrounding its solid iron core (actually an alloy of iron and nickel). The liquid core is rotating and that rotation causes movements within the liquid causing the core to generate the electrical currents that provide our magnetic field.
Mars originally had the same arrangement of liquid core surrounding a solid core, so it also generated its own field. Being smaller Mars cooled much quicker than earth, eventually the liquid cooled and stopped generating a magnetic field.
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