After being sick for two weeks, i've watched a lot of television. One movie that came on while I was lounging around was Ice Age. I never thought I could relate physics to a cartoon, but then I wondered how these dumb animals like the sloth, Sid knew which way his family had migrated. How do animals know which way is north and south? After a little research i found out it's the magnetite (lodestone) in animals bodies that detects Earth's magnetic fields. Since Earth's geographic south is magnetic north, the animals will know which way to travel based on a feeling of pull on their lodestone. This magnetite in animals is like a built in compass. It would be bad if Earth's magnetic fields altered, changed direction over time, because then packs of animals would travel in the wrong direction and face extinction.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Blog 11: Magnetism
After being sick for two weeks, i've watched a lot of television. One movie that came on while I was lounging around was Ice Age. I never thought I could relate physics to a cartoon, but then I wondered how these dumb animals like the sloth, Sid knew which way his family had migrated. How do animals know which way is north and south? After a little research i found out it's the magnetite (lodestone) in animals bodies that detects Earth's magnetic fields. Since Earth's geographic south is magnetic north, the animals will know which way to travel based on a feeling of pull on their lodestone. This magnetite in animals is like a built in compass. It would be bad if Earth's magnetic fields altered, changed direction over time, because then packs of animals would travel in the wrong direction and face extinction.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment