2

Electronics super-noob here! (I did EE in school but have managed to forget practically everything since, to an alarming degree!).

I'm wondering how the field of electrical engineering and electronics would be affected if humans, say, colonized any of the planets that have no magnetic fields? I understand that without a magnetic field in the atmosphere, humans would be more easily exposed to harmful radiation. As far as technology goes, how would things be affected?

You can still created magnetic fields in space by creating moving electric fields, right? Would normal electro-mechanic forces works the same way? Is there any consequence for radio technology or satellites? Obviously, humans have sent probes into the vacuum of space that send data back, so I understand that it works, but I'm curious if there's any different considerations.

What technology would stop working on a planet with no magnetic field (besides compasses)?

8bitcartridge
  • 165
  • 3
  • They'd be fine, except for compasses. – user253751 Sep 07 '20 at 18:51
  • @user253751 Why? – Rodrigo de Azevedo Sep 07 '20 at 18:52
  • @RodrigodeAzevedo well why *wouldn't* they be fine? – user253751 Sep 07 '20 at 18:53
  • 1
    @user253751 They would be fine. If radiation-hardened. Or am I missing something? – Rodrigo de Azevedo Sep 07 '20 at 19:07
  • Colonising wouldn’t be sensible to any great degree on planets that didn’t have a magnetic field because it wouldn’t have an iron core (more than likely) and wouldn’t cut the mustard in terms of resources for large scale people relocation. – Andy aka Sep 07 '20 at 19:31
  • 1
    @Andyaka Stationary iron does not produce magnetic fields, does it? – Rodrigo de Azevedo Sep 07 '20 at 19:44
  • No it doesn’t; a molten core is required and that is more likely to be of benefit for large colonisation too. – Andy aka Sep 07 '20 at 21:19
  • Have you considered how much of the earth’s soil is replenished by volcano activity. – Andy aka Sep 07 '20 at 22:07
  • 1
    No, I'm done with this and it isn't an EE themed subject anymore. – Andy aka Sep 08 '20 at 07:27
  • The magnetic field is not only in the atmosphere. Google "magnetosphere". – Rodrigo de Azevedo Sep 08 '20 at 08:37
  • 8bitcartridge, If this is for some scifi you are writing, there is a place for this at [Worldbuilding](https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com). If it's just a random question, then I'm pretty sure this is at the very least a Ph.D. thesis project given the wide scope and depth you are asking about. The solar system's heliosphere has been studied by voyager I and II and you could start there to get some ideas about what to expect at various locations within the heliosphere without a magnetic field and then draw some of your own conclusions, too. – jonk Sep 08 '20 at 11:01
  • Thanks for the comments all! No, this is not for 'some scifi' :) I'm legitimately curious, but I think it's clear from the comments that electronics would not be appreciably affected. I was thinking maybe inductance would work differently, or that you would need different parameters when designing antenna and such. I should probably start from basics again and re-learn the physics here, I suppose... – 8bitcartridge Sep 10 '20 at 21:40

2 Answers2

0

There are quite a few man-made electronic devices attached/landed on celestial object with weak/almost no magnetic field, both operational and deprecated. The celestial object include, but are not limited to Mars, Moon, Venus, Titan, few asteroids, as well as a number of satelites and probes that are just floating in space with no external source of magnetic fields other than the far-away Sun.

No problem. Everything works as expected in regard to the magnetic fields.

Then again, the Earth's magnetic field can be quite useful in some unexpected manners. For example, some satelites use it to generate torque for attitude control

fraxinus
  • 8,726
  • 11
  • 34
-4

All planets have magnetic fields, with out this field the planet would soon lose it's orbit, such as a asteroid, or meteoroid and go crashing off on its own course. A molten core is not required to generate a magnetic field in a planet. Thru out all of space there is a duality of a light matrix that pass thru all objects, creating to a greater or lesser degree in these objects a magnetic field. There by giving a harmonic order to groups and systems in space.

All planet’s magnetic fields also create its own time-domain, this varies according a planets size, age, atmosphere, etc. Early on NASA was perplexed by their Satellites arriving early or later then they should have been. Their calculations were off because it was based on Earth’s time-domain and not the approaching planet. We Human being are just getting started understanding the Cosmos.

mike andrasko
  • 13
  • 3
  • How would the lack of a magnetic field affect a planet's orbit which is based on gravitational forces? See [Not all planets have magnetic fields](https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/do-all-planets-have-magnetic-fields/#:~:text=No%2C%20not%20all%20planets%20have,have%20almost%20no%20measurable%20fields.). – Transistor Sep 13 '20 at 19:54
  • "light matrix", "harmonic order", "create its own time-domain". This smells like some new-age goop-like original theory. -1 – Sredni Vashtar Sep 13 '20 at 22:15