The Great Magnet, the Earth

Index to the Web Site

Home page and Introduction to "De Magnete"
A review of "De Magnete"
Another review of "De Magnete"
    (By Stuart Malin and David Barraclough
            in Eos of 23 May, 2000).
More about "De Magnete"
Performing Gilbert's Experiment on Induced Magnetism
What was known in Gilbert's Time
London in 1600

Magnetism from Gilbert to 1820
Oersted and Ampere link Electricity to Magnetism
The Lodestone
Gauss and the Global Magnetic Field
The Sun's magnetic cycle

The Dynamo Process
The Self-Sustaining Dynamo in the Earth's Core
About Electronic Magnetometers and about Smoking
Magnetic Reversals and Moving Continents
The Magnetosphere
Planetary Magnetism
G l o s s a r y
T i m e l i n e
Questions and Answers         -- and oh, do we get questions!

1. Introduction
2. Early discoveries
3. William Gilbert
4. Halley
5. Coulomb
6. Oersted and Ampere
7. The Lodestone
8. Gauss and Humboldt
9. Explorations and Surveys
10. Faraday's Lines of Force (field lines)
11. Faraday's Disk Dynamo
12. Sunspots
13. The Dynamo Process on the Sun
14. The Earth's Dynamo
15. Dipole Reversals and Plate Tectonics
16. Magnetic Storms and Ring Currents
17. The Magnetosphere
18. Magnetic Reconnection
19. Planetary Magnetospheres
20. Assessment

Chronology of Geomagnetism
References: A-G
References: H-P
References: Q-Z

Of Special Interest to Science Teachers

Note to Science Teachers

"Teaching About Magnetism" (with demonstrations)

Teaching Geomagnetism in an Earth Sciences Class , a short article with suggestions on using this material in schools.

    Teaching about the Earth's Magnetism in Earth Sciences, a one-hour illustrated talk given by the author 18 November 2000 before the regional meeting of the National Association of Science teachers (NSTA). For faster loading, this document is divided into 3 parts. Go to Part 1
Go to Part 2
Go to Part 3

•   The Exploration of the Earth's Magnetosphere
•   From Stargazers to Starships

            Happy Exploring!