Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 83.djvu/127

Rh Schuster, assuming the magnetic fields of the earth and sun to be due to their rotation, found that the strength of the sun's field should be 440 times that of the earth, or 264 gausses. This was on the supposition that the field-strength of a rotating body is proportional to the product of the radius and the maximum linear velocity of rotation, but neglected the density. Before inquiring why the observed and theoretical values differ, we may glance at the two most promising hypotheses that have been advanced in support of the view that every large rotating body is a magnet.

On account of their greater mass, the positive electrons of the neutral molecules within the earth may perhaps be more powerfully attracted by gravitation than the negative electrons. In this case the negative charge of each molecule should be a little farther from the center of the earth than the positive charge. The average linear velocity of the negative charge would thus be a little greater, and the magnetizing effect due to its motion would slightly exceed that due to the motion of the positive charge. By assuming a separation of the charges equal to about four tenths the radius of a molecule (Bauer), the symmetrical part of the earth's magnetic field could be accounted for as the result of the axial rotation.

This theory, first suggested by Thomson, has been developed by Sutherland, Schuster and Bauer. But as yet it has yielded no explanation of the secular variation of the earth's magnetism, and other important objections have been urged against it. While it should not be rejected, the merits of other theories must not be overlooked.

Chief among these is the theory that rests on the very probable assumption that every molecule is a magnet. If the magnetism is accounted for as the effect of the rapid revolution of electrons within the molecule, a gyrostatic action might be anticipated. That is, each molecule would tend to set itself with its axis parallel to the axis of the earth, just as the gyrostatic compass, now coming into use at sea, tends to point to the geographical pole. The host of molecular magnets, all acting together, might account for the earth's magnetic field.

This theory, in its turn, is not free from obvious points of weakness, though they may disappear as the result of more extended investigation. Its chief advantage lies in the possibility that it may explain the secular variation of the earth's magnetism by a precessional motion of the magnetic molecules.

On either hypothesis, it is assumed, in the absence of knowledge to the contrary, that every molecule contributes to the production of the magnetic field. Thus the density of the rotating body may prove to be a factor. Perhaps the change of density from the surface to the center of the sun must also be taken into account. But the observational results already obtained suggest that the phenomena of ionization in the solar atmosphere may turn out to be the predominant influence.