Earth’s Magnetic Field and the Sun-Earth Connection

Developed by Hilary Clement Olson, Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin

How to cite this work: Olson, H.C. 2009. Earth’s Magnetic Field and the Sun-Earth Connection, TXESS Revolution, WEBPAGE, Date Accessed.

Overview

Earth has a magnetic field that shields it from harmful cosmic radiation. In some ways, Earth's magnetic field behaves in the same way that magnetic fields on ordinary magnets behave (see the field around an ordinary bar magnet below as illustrated by the pattern of iron filings).

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Magnet0873.png; downloaded 10/13/2009

Research and Testing of This Activity

This activity was implemented in the following teacher professional development workshops: (1) TXESSS Revolution PDA 5B, and PDA 5C (2009), funded by the National Science Foundation Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences program. Feedback from teachers was used to refine the activity.

Teachers who attended PDA 5B, and 5C rated the activity as shown in the tables below.

TABLE NEEDED   Table 1: Activity rating by X TXESS Revolution teachers in PDA 5B (2009).

TABLE NEEDED   Table 2: Activity rating by X TXESS Revolution teachers in PDA 5C (2009).