User talk:Erjagan

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Earth's Magnetic Field (Magnetosphere) All magnetic objects produce invisible lines of force that extend between the poles of the object. An easy way to visualize this is to spread iron filings on a sheet of paper and place a bar magnet under the paper. The iron filings will arrange themselves around the magnet and along the magnetic field lines. In the simplest terms, Earth can be thought of as a dipole (2-pole) magnet. Magnetic field lines radiate between Earth's north and south magnetic poles just as they do between the poles of a bar magnet. Charged particles become trapped on these field lines (just as the iron filings are trapped), forming the magnetosphere.

Earth's magnetic field lines are not as symmetrical as those of the bar magnet. The impact of the solar wind causes the lines facing sunward to compress, while the field lines facing away from the Sun stream back to form Earth's magnetotail. The magnetosphere extends into the vacuum of space from approximately 80 to 60,000 kilometers (50 to 37,280 miles) on the side toward the Sun, and trails out more than 300,000 kilometers (186,500 miles) away from the Sun.

Updated December 5, 1995. Contacts