I heard something about if lightning stopped striking the earth for too long, in a period of seconds, that the Earth would lose it's magnetic field/charge.

Is there any truth to that? I may have the field confused with charge.
Maybe it is charge?

But yeah, does anyone here know what bad affects would happen if all lightning stopped to strike?

EDIT: Okay, I got the answer. Lightning won't kill us all off if it disappeared.
Thank you everyone who helped me.

I have heard something like that, yeah. But I don't know exactly what it was, I'll google it.

Ah. Okay. I wondered. I tried to google it, but I got all sorts of confused.
"No, I didn't ask about lightning striking a car, google."

Doesn't make any sense. The magnetic field of the Earth is caused by the core of the Earth exhibiting magnetic properties on the surface, distance between planets and space masses etc.

Lighting doesn't factor in, it doesn't "charge" the magnetic field or anything like that.

people are jumping to conclusions, the earth has been losing its magnetic field for a while and they just guess that it is because the lack of lightening, I think there is a competing theory that it is global warming, since the ice caps are melting earths mass is being evened out sorta, which affects how fast it turns and that has something to do with that, but I am not quite sure

Oh, so it doesn't affect the charge of the magnetic field of the Earth?
Okay.

And I assure you, Swarly, it was not a jump to conclusions.
Also, I didn't know it was slowly losing itself. I guess the magnetic poles are going to reverse soon.

I admit I was wrong then. However, it would help if someone could point out exactly what lightning does, and what would happen if it suddenly stopped happening?

Maybe there would be a lot less O3(Oxygen 3, it's Ozone) generation?

I'm just glad the actual poles of the Earth don't move. Although, I wonder, how does continental drift affect it? I mean, at one point was Nebraska where Alaska is?

Also, one thing I know is correct, is that Alaska and England are on the same Latitude. I hope that's the right word.
If the ocean currents change, England will get really cold.

Well, lightning is super-charged particles. (plasma) When lightning strikes through the air, it destroys any molecules it comes in contact with. Now because oxygen in our atmosphere is O2, the lightning can destroy one of the oxygen molecules leaving the other to roam freely. But oxygen doesn't like to be alone, so it will try to bond with whatever it can, including oxygen (O2) creating o-zone (O3)

That's how I understand it anyway =P And that's why after a large thunderstorm, the air will smell funny. Almost stale, kinda like ammonia.

EDIT: About the poles moving...

Magnetic fields observed in sediment placement of very old rocks points to the magnetic north pole slowly traveling south-west. Maybe one day in the distant future, it could be somewhere in Russia.

Yeah, I remember reading about how the magnetic poles do change locations occasionally.
Heck they reverse themselves every 60,000 years or so. South becomes North, and what not.
Or was it 600,000?

Thanks for explaining more about how lightning works. I forgot it was plasma. Like the surface of the sun. I think it's plasma.

I'm just glad the actual poles don't move.
I mean, continental drift would allow for some odd locations thought to be at the north pole.

Well, I will cross-post my original reply to this (from a FO3 Weather mod thread):

I really would prefer if you didn't do that, jonwd.

I don't think everyone here needs to see how stupid I was.

And I still say you could have phrased it better than "you must be making that up."

WooOoooOOoOoooo! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Atlantic_Anomaly Field is reversing/has reversed there. Pretty cool stuff.

How about you ended the post with "I'm not making that up."?

In fact I think you should been fair by including my rebuttal in this new thread, which would have been the scientific thing to do. But instead you posted a new thread looking for affirmation for something when you could have just looked up everything I provided you with.

So: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamo_theory
and: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Allen_radiation_belt

Also, I'm not attempting to make you look stupid. I just think it's my scientific duty to prevent the spread of misinformation when I see it.

Something like that, yea. Some claim it will happen on December 21 2012. Although unlikely, it would be a sight to see as the fields would have to become weak in order to change. However, the earths ascension(SP?) *The rotation of the earths axis* is due to complete itself sometime in 2012. It has like a 58,000 year cycle.

Cool stuff, this whole thread is!

Given the south atlantic anomaly (which I just posted to), I think the reversal probably happens in a more piece-meal fashion than all at once. Of course the magnetic bands recorded in the sea floor rock might not be able to record decade or even hundred-year intervals with precision.

Don't taze me bro!
Okay, I made a mistake, and I'm glad you're not trying to say I'm stupid. I get that on other forums.

Also, the information in this thread is very nice. I learned some new things, and that South Anomaly page made my head hurt with all the hard to understand words...I don't even know where to begin on how to understand it. No, really, Quantum Physics is less confusing then that page.

Trust me on this. I mean, Ow.

I go off of the theories I know of. Maybe were both wrong, eh? haha.

So much misinformation in this thread... It's so easy to just look these things up:

1) The cycle for geomagnetic reversals is not 60,000, 600,000, or 58,000 years. The average is between 200,000 and 300,000 years, yet we have gone without geomagnetic reversal for an astounding 780,000 years. It also occurred over several thousand years. Some reversals happened within mere tens of thousands of years of each other. Therefore an "average" is basically meaningless, as it could be completely random, and the reasons for geomagnetic reversals aren't fully known.



2) There is no "loss" of magnetic field. The current trend is that it is weakening, but this does not imply we are "losing" it and it will never return. The fact is that the magnetic field is under a constant state of flux. Since we are 500,000 years overdue for a geomagnetic reversal, it's believed that this observed weakening is because our field is in the midst of a reversal. So yes, there may be parts of the world like the anomaly posted above happening for the next few thousand years until the magnetic reversal has completed.

3) Nobody legitimately claims anything (as unknown to us as the Earth's magnetism) is going to happen on a date like the Winter Solstice of 2012. There is no exact date in which our field will reverse. It's probably already currently in the process of doing so and will continue to do so for hundreds or thousands of years.

This man speaks the truth. Most of this thread is based on theoretical science. But it's fun none-the-less!

Well, I learned a lot from this thread, and that's a good thing.
Maybe jon can tell me what would happen if lightning stopped striking?

Again, nothing. All that happens when the Earth is hit with lightning is that it infinitely stores it, the Earth is essentially an infinite reservoir. The stored energy doesn't "power" the magnetic field or anything like that.

Okay. Now I see. Nice to know Lightning isn't important.

Now we can have weather control satellites! Like in Star Trek IV!

Google "Cloud Seeding". I would explain it if I had more time. But it's still cool as hell =P


Off to dinner!

I doubt lightning would ever stop occuring long enough to cause such an impossible disaster. Lightning's caused by electrostatic build-up and subsequent influence, the former occurs due to movement. The air's moving and will continue to move even if the Earth position was fixed.

Not true and nothing would happen. Earth gets its magnetic field from the core.

Well, we might not die from lack of lightning, but whatever global weather phenomenon caused it to disappear would probably have some side effects...