Science Snapshots: Flipping Poles
Peckers, grab your rosaries and say your prayers! The sun's magnetic poles are due to flip, and it could happen this year ! NSF/AURA/NSO I'm kidding, of course. Not about the flipping, but about the need to worry about it. This happens every 11 years, after all! What even is a magnetic pole? Gifer A magnet is a material that produces a magnetic field. Super helpful, huh? A magnetic field is essentially an area that influences the motion of charged particles moving through it. You've probably run into magnets before. Maybe you stuck them on your fridge, or you're convinced the COVID vaccine lets you stick car keys to yourself . Magnets sticking is achieved due to the magnet producing a field that attracts the particles in the magnet to the particles in the refrigerator. Magnetic fields look pretty cool. Here we see the structure of a magnetic field because of how it lines up pieces of metal that are aligned by the center magnet's field. Wikipedia If I went any furthe