The Magnetic North
The Earth’s Magnetic Field
This article will cover three large concepts about the Earth and its magnetic field.
The first concept we will talk about is the fact the Magnetic North is NOT at the North Pole. This is because the magnetic North moves about a lot and does not always match up with the geographical north (the north pole).
The diagram above shows us the difference between these two poles. The orange rectangle represents the giant ‘magnet’ inside the Earth and as you can tell (by the South pole facing the geographical North), on a compass the magnetic North is really the geographical South on a compass. Another point to factor in is that sometimes the poles swap around, but we will come back to this later.
The second concept we will talk about is the Earth’s magnetic field due to reverse. This is when the poles completely reverse. As I said earlier, the poles sometimes swap around and currently we are overdue for a swap. The last time this happened was over 700,000 years ago. Some say the magnetic poles are moving at 40 miles a year, but this change can take from 1,000 - 10,000 years alone. This can make things difficult for people who use compasses on a daily bases (sailors, pilots) because it causes compass readings to be incorrect. This is due to the fact that the magnetic North has been moved around in a completely different direction, so the compass is no longer able to read the location of the geographical North. This can also cause some strange things to happen including volcanoes, earthquakes and it can also cause the Northern Lights to appear in equatorial countries.
The final concept we will talk about is the magnetic North Pole heading for Russia.

Above is a map of where the magnetic North Pole has travelled over the past few decades and as you can probably see the magnetic North has moved about a lot. The magnetic North is not still like the geographical North which never changes
This article will cover three large concepts about the Earth and its magnetic field.
The first concept we will talk about is the fact the Magnetic North is NOT at the North Pole. This is because the magnetic North moves about a lot and does not always match up with the geographical north (the north pole).
The diagram above shows us the difference between these two poles. The orange rectangle represents the giant ‘magnet’ inside the Earth and as you can tell (by the South pole facing the geographical North), on a compass the magnetic North is really the geographical South on a compass. Another point to factor in is that sometimes the poles swap around, but we will come back to this later.
The second concept we will talk about is the Earth’s magnetic field due to reverse. This is when the poles completely reverse. As I said earlier, the poles sometimes swap around and currently we are overdue for a swap. The last time this happened was over 700,000 years ago. Some say the magnetic poles are moving at 40 miles a year, but this change can take from 1,000 - 10,000 years alone. This can make things difficult for people who use compasses on a daily bases (sailors, pilots) because it causes compass readings to be incorrect. This is due to the fact that the magnetic North has been moved around in a completely different direction, so the compass is no longer able to read the location of the geographical North. This can also cause some strange things to happen including volcanoes, earthquakes and it can also cause the Northern Lights to appear in equatorial countries.
The final concept we will talk about is the magnetic North Pole heading for Russia.

Above is a map of where the magnetic North Pole has travelled over the past few decades and as you can probably see the magnetic North has moved about a lot. The magnetic North is not still like the geographical North which never changes