Chapter wise notes of Class 12 Physics, Magnetism & Matter are available here.

This article is a
continuation of the revision notes on Magnetism and Matter (Part ‒ I). In previous parts, we have
studied important topics like origin of magnetism, basic properties of a magnet, properties of
magnetic field lines, magnetic dipole, dipole Moment etc. In this part we will study some more topics
which are given below

The Earth’s Magnetism

Causes of the Earth’s Magnetism

Basic features of the Earth’s Magnetism

Magnetic Element of the Earth’s Magnetic Field

Magnetic Declination

Horizontal Components of the Earth’s Magnetic Field

Angle of dip 

The Earth’s Magnetism

The earth behave likes a huge bar magnet. Strength of the earth’s magnetic field varies from place
to place on the earth’s surface. The magnitude of the earth’s magnetic field is of the order of 10 –5 T.

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Causes of the Earth’s Magnetism
Exact causes the earth’s magnetism is not clear yet. There are some Earth Magnetism Theory which
are as follows:

• The magnetic field of the earth is thought to arise due to electrical currents produced by convective
motion of metallic fluids (consisting mostly of molten iron & nickel) in the outer core of the earth. This
effect is also known as the dynamo effect.

• In outer layers of earth’s atmosphere, various gases are in ionized state. Due to rotation of the
earth about its axis, strong electric current are set up due to movement of charged ions.
Chapter Wise Revision Notes of CBSE Class 12 Chemsitry
Basic features of the Earth’s Magnetism
Magnetic field lines of the earth resemble with a (hypothetical) giant magnetic dipole located at the
centre of the earth.

The axis of the dipole does not coincide with the axis of rotation of the earth.

Image Source: NCERT Textbooks

• The axis of the dipole is titled by approximately 11.3º with respect to the later.

• The magnetic poles are located where the magnetic field lines due to the dipole enter or leave the
earth.

• North magnetic pole is located at a latitude of 79.74º N and a longitude of 71.8º W (in north
Canada)

• The magnetic south pole is located at 79.74º S, 108.22º E (in Antarctica)

• The pole near the geographic north pole of the earth is called the north magnetic pole.

• The pole near the geographic south pole of the earth is called the south magnetic pole.

• Nomenclature of the poles is confusing and one should not get confuse. If we look at the magnetic
field lines of the earth (as shown in figure given above), we observe that unlike in the case of a bar
magnet, the field lines go into the earth at the north magnetic pole (N m) and come out from the south
magnetic pole (Sm).
• The convention arose because the magnetic north was the direction to which the north pole of a
magnetic needle pointed; the north pole of a magnet was so named as it was the north seeking pole.

• The north magnetic pole behaves like the south pole of a bar magnet inside the earth and vice
versa.

Magnetic Element of the Earth’s Magnetic Field

These are the quantities which completely describe magnitude and direction of the earth’s magnetic
field at a place.

There are three magnetic elements of the earth:

• Magnetic Declination

• Horizontal component of the earth’s magnetic field

• Angle of dip or Magnetic inclination

CBSE Class 12th Physics Notes: Electrostatics Potential and

Capacitance
Magnetic Declination:
It is the angle between magnetic meridian and geographic meridian at a place.

Image Source: NCERT Textbooks

In the figure shown above, the angle between the true geographic north and the north shown by a
compass needle is called the magnetic declination or simply declination.
The declination is greater at higher latitudes and smaller near the equator.

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Acids
Horizontal Components of the Earth’s Magnetic Field:
The earth’ magnetic field is nowhere horizontal except at equator. So, at any place, the earth’s
magnetic field (BE) in the magnetic meridian may be resolved into a horizontal component (H E) and
vertical component (ZE).

Image Source: NCERT Textbooks

The horizontal component of the earth’s magnetic field is the component of the earth’s magnetic field
in horizontal direction.

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Angle of dip or Magnetic inclination
Angle of declination at a place is the angle between the direction of the earth’s magnetic field and
the horizontal in the magnetic meridian at that place.

Neutral Points
At certain points the field due to a bar magnet may be completely neutralized by the horizontal
component of the earth’s magnetic field. These points are known as neutral points.

Mathematical Relation between Magnetic Elements of the Earth’s

Magnetic Field:
With reference to the figures given above,

ZE = BE sin I, HE = BE cos I which gives tan I = ZE/HE

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Tangent Law: Superposition of magnetic fields
If a magnetic needle is under the influence of two uniform magnetic fields B 1 and B2 in mutually
perpendicular directions, then, the magnetic needle will align itself along the resultant field.

In the figure shown above, if the resultant of B 1 and B2 makes an angle θ with B1, then, tan θ = |B2|/|
B1|.

Dynamo theory
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about a proposed theory for the source of the Earth's magnetic field. For an
explanation of the operation of a mechanical dynamo, see Dynamo.
 Illustration of the dynamo mechanism that creates the Earth's magnetic field: convectioncurrents of fluid metal in the
Earth's outer core, driven by heat flow from the inner core, organized into rolls by the Coriolis force, create circulating
electric currents, which generate the magnetic field.[1]

In physics, the dynamo theory proposes a mechanism by which a celestial body such as Earth or

a star generates a magnetic field. The dynamo theory describes the process through which a
rotating, convecting, and electrically conducting fluid can maintain a magnetic field
over astronomical time scales. A dynamo is thought to be the source of the Earth's magnetic field, as
well as the magnetic fields of other planets.

Contents
  [hide] 

 1History of theory
 2Formal definition
o 2.1Tidal heating supporting a dynamo
 3Kinematic dynamo theory
o 3.1Kinematic dynamo as a spontaneous breakdown of topological supersymmetry
 4Nonlinear dynamo theory
 5Numerical models
 6See also
 7References

History of theory[edit]
When William Gilbert published de Magnete in 1600, he concluded that the Earth is magnetic and
proposed the first hypothesis for the origin of this magnetism: permanent magnetism such as that
found in lodestone. In 1919, Joseph Larmor proposed that adynamo might be generating the field.[2]
[3]
 However, even after he advanced his hypothesis, some prominent scientists advanced alternative
explanations. Einstein believed that there might be an asymmetry between the charges of
the electron and proton so that the Earth's magnetic field would be produced by the entire Earth.
The Nobel Prize winner Patrick Blackett did a series of experiments looking for a fundamental
relation between angular momentum and magnetic moment, but found none.[4][5]
Walter M. Elsasser, considered a "father" of the presently accepted dynamo theory as an
explanation of the Earth's magnetism, proposed that this magnetic field resulted from electric
currents induced in the fluid outer core of the Earth. He revealed the history of the Earth's magnetic
field through pioneering the study of the magnetic orientation of minerals in rocks.
In order to maintain the magnetic field against ohmic decay (which would occur for the dipole field in
20,000 years), the outer core must be convecting. The convection is likely some combination of
thermal and compositional convection. The mantle controls the rate at which heat is extracted from
the core. Heat sources include gravitational energy released by the compression of the core,
gravitational energy released by the rejection of light elements (probably sulfur, oxygen, or silicon) at
the inner core boundary as it grows, latent heat of crystallization at the inner core boundary, and
radioactivity of potassium, uranium and thorium.[6]
At the dawn of the 21st century, numerical modeling of the Earth's magnetic field has not been
successfully demonstrated, but appears to be in reach. Initial models are focused on field generation
by convection in the planet's fluid outer core. It was possible to show the generation of a strong,
Earth-like field when the model assumed a uniform core-surface temperature and exceptionally high
viscosities for the core fluid. Computations which incorporated more realistic parameter values
yielded magnetic fields that were less Earth-like, but also point the way to model refinements which
may ultimately lead to an accurate analytic model. Slight variations in the core-surface temperature,
in the range of a few millikelvins, result in significant increases in convective flow and produce more
realistic magnetic fields.[7][8]

Formal definition[edit]
Dynamo theory describes the process through which a rotating, convecting, and electrically
conducting fluid acts to maintain a magnetic field. This theory is used to explain the presence of
anomalously long-lived magnetic fields in astrophysical bodies. The conductive fluid in the
geodynamo is liquid iron in the outer core, and in the solar dynamo is ionized gas at the tachocline.
Dynamo theory of astrophysical bodies uses magnetohydrodynamic equations to investigate how
the fluid can continuously regenerate the magnetic field. [9]
It was once believed that the dipole, which comprises much of the Earth's magnetic field and is
misaligned along the rotation axis by 11.3 degrees, was caused by permanent magnetization of the
materials in the earth. This means that dynamo theory was originally used to explain the Sun's
magnetic field in its relationship with that of the Earth. However, this hypothesis, which was initially
proposed by Joseph Larmor in 1919, has been modified due to extensive studies of
magnetic secular variation, paleomagnetism (includingpolarity reversals), seismology, and the solar
system's abundance of elements. Also, the application of the theories of Carl Friedrich Gauss to
magnetic observations showed that Earth's magnetic field had an internal, rather than external,
origin.
There are three requisites for a dynamo to operate:

 An electrically conductive fluid medium

 Kinetic energy provided by planetary rotation
 An internal energy source to drive convective motions within the fluid. [10]
In the case of the Earth, the magnetic field is induced and constantly maintained by the convection
of liquid iron in the outer core, a requirement for the induction of field is a rotating fluid. Rotation in
the outer core is supplied by the Coriolis effect caused by the rotation of the Earth. The Coriolis force
tends to organize fluid motions and electric currents into columns (also see Taylor columns) aligned
with the rotation axis. Induction or creation of magnetic field is described by the induction equation:
where u is velocity, B is magnetic field, t is time, and   is the magnetic diffusivity with 

 electrical conductivity and   permeability. The ratio of the second term on the
right hand side to the first term gives the Magnetic Reynolds number, a dimensionless ratio of
advection of magnetic field to diffusion.
Tidal heating supporting a dynamo[edit]
Tidal forces between celestial orbiting bodies cause friction that heats up their interiors. This is
known as tidal heating, and it helps keep the interior liquid. A liquid interior that can conduct
electricity is required to produce a dynamo. Saturn's Enceladus and Jupiter's Io have enough
tidal heating to liquify their inner cores, but they may not create a dynamo because they cannot
conduct electricity. [11] [12] Mercury, despite its small size, has a magnetic field, because it has a
conductive liquid core created by its iron composition and friction resulting from its highly
elliptical orbit.[13] It is theorized that the Moon once had a magnetic field, based on evidence from
magnetized lunar rocks, due to its short-lived closer distance to Earth creating tidal
heating. [14] An orbit and rotation of a planet helps provide a liquid core, and supplements kinetic
energy that supports a dynamo action.

Kinematic dynamo theory[edit]

In kinematic dynamo theory the velocity field is prescribed, instead of being a dynamic variable.
This method cannot provide the time variable behavior of a fully nonlinear chaotic dynamo but is
useful in studying how magnetic field strength varies with the flow structure and speed.
Using Maxwell's equations simultaneously with the curl of Ohm's Law, one can derive what is
basically the linear eigenvalue equation for magnetic fields (B) which can be done when
assuming that the magnetic field is independent from the velocity field. One arrives at a
critical magnetic Reynolds number above which the flow strength is sufficient to amplify the
imposed magnetic field, and below which it decays.
The most functional feature of kinematic dynamo theory is that it can be used to test whether a
velocity field is or is not capable of dynamo action. By applying a certain velocity field to a small
magnetic field, it can be determined through observation whether the magnetic field tends to
grow or not in reaction to the applied flow. If the magnetic field does grow, then the system is
either capable of dynamo action or is a dynamo, but if the magnetic field does not grow, then it is
simply referred to as non-dynamo.
The membrane paradigm is a way of looking at black holes that allows for the material near their
surfaces to be expressed in the language of dynamo theory.
Kinematic dynamo as a spontaneous breakdown of topological
supersymmetry[edit]
Kinematic dynamo can be also viewed as the phenomenon of the spontaneous breakdown of
the topological supersymmetry of the associated stochastic differential equation related to the
flow of the background matter. [15] Within supersymmetric theory of stochastics, this
supersymmetry is an intrinsic property of all stochastic differential equations, its meaning is the
preservation of the continuity of the phase space of the model by continuous time flows, and its
spontaneous breakdown is the stochastic generalization of the concept of deterministic
chaos. [16] In other words, kinematic dynamo is a manifestation of the chaoticity of the underlying
flow of the background matter.

Nonlinear dynamo theory[edit]

The kinematic approximation becomes invalid when the magnetic field becomes strong enough
to affect the fluid motions. In that case the velocity field becomes affected by theLorentz force,
and so the induction equation is no longer linear in the magnetic field. In most cases this leads
to a quenching of the amplitude of the dynamo. Such dynamos are sometimes also referred to
as hydromagnetic dynamos.[17] Virtually all dynamos in astrophysics and geophysics are
hydromagnetic dynamos.
Numerical models are used to simulate fully nonlinear dynamos. A minimum of 5 equations are
needed. They are as follows. The induction equation, see above. Maxwell's equation:

The Boussinesq approximation is often used, in which the continuity

equation for conservation of mass is

and the Navier-Stokes equation for conservation of momentum is

where   is the kinematic viscosity,   is the density perturbation that

provides buoyancy (for thermal convection  ),   is the rotation rate

of the Earth, and   is the electric current density.

Finally, a transport equation, usually of heat (sometimes of light element
concentration):

where T is temperature,   is the thermal diffusivity with k thermal

conductivity,   heat capacity, and   density, and   is an

optional heat source. Often the pressure is the dynamic pressure, with the
hydrostatic pressure and centripetal potential removed. These equations are
then non-dimensionalized, introducing the non-dimensional parameters,
 where Ra is the Rayleigh number, E the Ekman
number, Pr and Pm the Prandtl and magnetic Prandtl number. Magnetic

field scaling is often in Elsasser number units  .

Numerical models[edit]
The equations for the geodynamo are enormously difficult to solve, and the
realism of the solutions is limited mainly by computer power. For decades,
theorists were confined tokinematic dynamo models described above, in
which the fluid motion is chosen in advance and the effect on the magnetic
field calculated. Kinematic dynamo theory was mainly a matter of trying
different flow geometries and seeing whether they could sustain a dynamo.
[18]

The first self-consistent dynamo models, ones that determine both the fluid

motions and the magnetic field, were developed by two groups in 1995, one
in Japan[19] and one in the United States.[20][21] The latter received significant
attention because it successfully reproduced some of the characteristics of
the Earth's field, including geomagnetic reversals. [18]

Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends
from the Earth's interior out into space, where it meets the solar wind, a stream of charged
particles emanating from the Sun. Its magnitude at the Earth's surface ranges from 25 to
65 microteslas (0.25 to 0.65 gauss).[3] Roughly speaking it is the field of a magnetic dipole currently
tilted at an angle of about 10 degrees with respect to Earth's rotational axis, as if there were a bar
magnet placed at that angle at the center of the Earth. The North geomagnetic pole, located near
Greenland in the northern hemisphere, is actually the south pole of the Earth's magnetic field, and
theSouth geomagnetic pole is the north pole. Unlike a bar magnet, Earth's magnetic field changes
over time because it is generated by ageodynamo (in Earth's case, the motion of molten iron
alloys in its outer core).

While the North and South magnetic poles are usually located near the geographic poles, they can
wander widely over geological time scales, but sufficiently slowly for ordinary compasses to remain
useful for navigation. However, at irregular intervals averaging several hundred thousand years, the
Earth's field reverses and the North and South Magnetic Poles relatively abruptly switch places.
These reversals of the geomagnetic poles leave a record in rocks that are of value
to paleomagnetists in calculating geomagnetic fields in the past. Such information in turn is helpful in
studying the motions of continents and ocean floors in the process of plate tectonics.

The magnetosphere is the region above the ionosphere that is defined by the extent of the Earth's
magnetic field in space. It extends several tens of thousands of kilometers into space, protecting the
Earth from the charged particles of the solar wind and cosmic rays that would otherwise strip away
the upper atmosphere, including the ozone layer that protects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet
radiation.

What causes the Earth's magnetic field?

Our planet’s magnetic field is believed to be generated deep down in the Earth’s core.

Nobody has ever taken the mythical journey to the centre of the Earth, but by studying the way shockwaves from
earthquakes travel through the planet, physicists have been able to work out its likely structure.

Right at the heart of the Earth is a solid inner core, two thirds of the size of the Moon and composed primarily of iron.
At a hellish 5,700°C, this iron is as hot as the Sun’s surface, but the crushing pressure caused by gravity prevents it
from becoming liquid.

Surrounding this is the outer core, a 2,000 km thick layer of iron, nickel, and small quantities of other metals. Lower
pressure than the inner core means the metal here is fluid.

Differences in temperature, pressure and composition within the outer core cause convection currents in the molten
metal as cool, dense matter sinks whilst warm, less dense matter rises. The Coriolis force, resulting from the Earth’s
spin, also causes swirling whirlpools.

This flow of liquid iron generates electric currents, which in turn produce magnetic fields. Charged metals passing
through these fields go on to create electric currents of their own, and so the cycle continues. This self-sustaining
loop is known as the geodynamo.

The spiralling caused by the Coriolis force means that separate magnetic fields created are roughly aligned in the
same direction, their combined effect adding up to produce one vast magnetic field engulfing the planet.