The Pub Discussion Board

well gee the ipod touch loaded w wikipedia sounds alot like the omega file don't it

you'd be better off figuring out what books you'll need and digitize it

Sadly, the iPod and any other piece of technology might become useless IF the magnetic poles switch.  We are coming close to the next switching of magnetic poles for the Earth, they are on something like a 25,000 year cycle.  Since all technology uses electromagnetic forces to power and send signals to computer chips, they would be vulnerable to losing all data.  The most vulnerable would be memory chips and magnetic discs, like Hard Drives.

Neitherspace wrote:

only if there active when it happens if i remember right cause at the moment of the switch theres an EMP or somthing similar....but were soon going to not use magnetic storage its even now possible to digitize info in a crystal matrix using a laser

I thought EMP would fry even unused circuits, plus the switch would change polarities on the chemical makeup of the circuits.  The truth is we really do not know what will exactly happen as this change is impossible to simulate in a laboratory due to the scale and power of the Earth's magnetic field.

Uhhhh...you know...if the poles were reversed, it would be very bad for us, I think. Yeah, yeah...it would cause that whole apocalypse thing, most likely, but I'm thinking about the health factors involved here. I think it would fuck with our minds. We may not be like birds and be able to home in on due north, but I think we would notice if the poles were reversed. Grrrr...I hate this topic of conversation.

The reason an EMP fries electronics is because when the magnetic field collapses it causes a power spike across circuits.

I don't know if you did the same experiment I did in about grade four.  We did one where you take a nail, wrap some insulated wire around the nail then take a strong permanent magnet and move it back and forth.  With the wires hooked up to a low voltage light bulb we were able to make the light glow.

The same principle happens with the integrated circuits.  You apply power where power is not supposed to go and it don't work no more.

Eric Storm wrote:

I'm not sure anyone knows for 100% sure about the effects of EMP, but an article I just read suggests that such small battery-operated devices as iPods and PDAs are pretty much immune from EMP, for the reason that they do not contain enough metal to concentrate the EM pulse into dangerous quantities.  Things with long antennas, or connected to (or close by) power or phone lines are in danger because of the sheer amount of metal they are connected to.

As to a pole-reversal, my chemistry/physics isn't good enough to understand why it makes a difference which way "north" is on the planet, when it comes to an electronic device.  If the poles are reversed, isn't that more or less the same as me turning around and facing the opposite direction?

Now, the actual period of reversal itself... no one knows WHAT that's like...  But it seems to me that, if the electronics survive the period of reversal, they shouldn't give much of a damn which way is "North".

Or am I missing something?
Eric

Actually, there is no period of reversal, there is a period of nearly zero magnetic field from the theories that I have read on this subject.  As I said there is no way to actually simulate the effects of this phenomenon due to the sheer size of this type of event.  However, there is a great chance that side effects like increased exposure to radiation would occur as the magnetic field does prevent quite a lot of cosmic radiation from actually making it to the Earth's surface.  That alone should fry just about every electronic device on the planet.

Eric Storm wrote:

And SM:  An EM "pulse" is just that: a pulse.  You created an oscillating magnetic field.

I agree it would not be a sustained thing more in the nature of one big ass static discharge as the magnetic field collapses.  Running electronic devices are definitely more at risk, stuff that is turned off I would expect to be glitchy afterwards when integrated circuits are damaged on a microscopic level.  I did not mean to imply there would be peoples iPods acting like grenades or anything extreme like that.

Again, from the article I read, you would need to turn the device off, unplug it, and move it about 10 feet away from the power lines.  The metal inside the device itself (unless it's some kind of honkin' huge machine, I suppose) isn't enough to concentrate the EMP to a dangerous level.  And if the thing has an antenna greater than 30" long, you would need to disconnect that, as well.  Just flipping it off doesn't seem to be sufficient protection; there needs to be a physical disconnect.

But again, this isn't my own knowledge:  If the article I read was wrong, then so am I.
Eric