Scientists understand that Earth's magnetic field has flipped its polarity many times over the millennia. In other words, if you were alive about 800,000 years ago, and facing what we call north ...

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- Push two magnets together and you'll set off an avalanche of activity, forcing atoms on each magnet to align their polarity with the intruding magnetic field.

Wobbly Polarity Is Key To Preventing Magnetic Avalanches On Disk Drives Date: July 17, 2007 Source: University of California - Santa Cruz Summary: New research brings models of magnetic avalanches ...

As this time line shows, our magnetic field has flipped hundreds of times through history. The cause, frequency, and duration of such flips remains a mystery, however. When Compasses Point South ...

Fluctuations in the magnetic field caused by the movement of metallic material in the outer core have brought about full reversals of the magnetic field's polarity in Earth's past.

The sun's magnetic field will reverse its polarity three or four months from now, researchers say, just as it does every 11 years at the peak of the solar activity cycle.

For each bit, a magnetic head grazes a tiny patch of your disk drive, forcing its polarity, or “spin,” to align up or down–the magnetic equivalent of a one or a zero. The patch’s polarity in many ...