Electro Magnetic Shielding

I have just watched a film which is about the earths core stopping and the magnetic field collapsing.
I was wondering if it would be possible to produce a magnetic field for use as a shield or a protective bubble of some sort. Surely this is possible?
I have been searching through the web looking for information on Electromagnetic Shielding and i havent found anything interesting yet.
If anyone has any interesting views please post a reply.
I will continue looking and if i find anything i will post it straight away.

nasa gave some money for advanced concepts studies
one of them was a electro magnetic shield to protect people
on the moon surface but also for use on manned exploration vehicles


www.nasa.gov...

www.thespacereview.com...

In transit, the existing supplies carried on board plus the fuel needed for the mission can be kept between the crew and the Sun to act as a shield. A small safe room with extra shielding can also be installed that can be used in the event of a solar flare. It is also possible to consider taking an artificially produced magnetic field with the craft to act as a shield. This technology might also be able to be expanded into a magnetic sail that could be used as propulsion as well as shielding. On the surface, the crew can also be shielded by putting the habitation underground or just by putting sand bags on top of the crew module.



www.space.com...

Youngquist's team envisions a spacecraft equipped with what's called a multipole electrostatic radiation shield, a radiation guard made up of three, electrically charged spheres set in a line along the axis of the ship. The center sphere, set close or even attached to the crew module, would be positively charged, while two outrigger spheres on either side would carry a negative charge. Together, the combination should be enough to repel both high-energy protons and electrons that would otherwise penetrate a spacecraft.






[edit on 11-10-2004 by MarkLuitzen]

A magnetic field can only affect charged particles. The definition for the magnetic part of Lorentz force is q*v x B, where q is the charge, v the speed of the particle, x the outer vector product and B the magnetic field vector. Because the cosmic particles and the particles of the solar wind are usually charged, the earth's magnetic field diverts them.

Hyperphysics: Magnetic Field

cheers for the links peeps they were a great help.

Originally posted by amantine
A magnetic field can only affect charged particles. The definition for the magnetic part of Lorentz force is q*v x B, where q is the charge, v the speed of the particle, x the outer vector product and B the magnetic field vector. Because the cosmic particles and the particles of the solar wind are usually charged, the earth's magnetic field diverts them.

Hyperphysics: Magnetic Field

Wasn't there a project from the NAVY for a superconducting magnet on a ship that could reflect or change the traectory of an incoming projectile or a rocket ( they aren't chareged)

Superconductors do have the property that they mirror exactly any magnetic field they're exposed to. This is what allows a magnet to float above a superconductor. A magnetic projectile could be deflected like it.

A magnetic field can also divert a charged projectile. It can get charged easily by air friction and the launch, but these charges are very small and a huge magnetic field would be needed.

My knowledge of electromagnetism is not as a good as my knowledge of relativity, so I may be wrong. I'll look it up in my books. Maybe you could provide some information about that navy project?

Originally posted by amantine
Maybe you could provide some information about that navy project?

searching for it right now

Originally posted by amantine
A magnetic field can also divert a charged projectile. It can get charged easily by air friction and the launch, but these charges are very small and a huge magnetic field would be needed.

Especially when considering mass of missiles compared to charged particles.

I think we see much sooner CIWS/Phalanxes with lasers than these kind of shields.

Can't seem to find about that project but the principles seem simple:


The movement of a magnet towards a closed system like the wire on the pic (or the movement of the system towards the magnet) creates electricity in the system. That electricity creates another magnetic field around the wire which counteracts to the change of the overall magnetic forces created by the inkcoming magnet. So when the magnet moves towards the wire the wire's field has the N pole to the N pole of the magnet or the S pole to the S pole of the magnet(it depends on which pole the magnet comes first with). And because equal poles repel each other than the wire will try to repel the incoming magnet(the wire is just an example of a closed system wich every peace of metal can be).






so do i make sense or I'm stupid

[edit on 15-10-2004 by vorazechul]

[edit on 15-10-2004 by vorazechul]

Well Devil i see you have watched "The Core" then.

Here are some nice stuff for that movie....

The real situation is far more complicated, as life, in general, is messier than an oversimplified movie review. The Earth's core isn't just spinning; there are currents inside it, and other factors which influence the Earth's magnetic field. If the writers had been clever, instead of saying the Earth's core had stopped, they could have said that the currents of molten and ionized iron inside the core had become chaotic. It takes a relatively stable flow to make a magnetic field, so the chaotic motion could collapse the Earth's magnetic field.

Not only is this plausible, it appears to be true: the magnetic field of the Earth is not constant. In fact, for reasons still not well-understood, the magnetic polarity of the field sometimes reverses, with the north magnetic pole becoming the south, and vice-versa. This happens every few hundreds of thousands of years (and note that the Earth's surface doesn't boil when the field drops to zero during a reversal!).

Look at this bad astronomy review detailing the bad science behind the movie, although they got the spinning core physics right but very simplified.

Its a good read actually.

www.badastronomy.com...