Will the current weakening magnetic field causes more earthquakes?

Question

Since there are increasing number of earthquakes around the global now, does the weakening magnetic field have something to do with it ? And are we in the process of magnetic pole shift?
If yes, will there be a mass extinction of species during the magnetic shifting?
Also some questions that related to the 2012....although most of you may think it's just a hoax, i still want some scientific proof

1) NASA said there's gonna be a solar maximum, ie. a solar storm coming between 2011-2013, which could possibly wipe out the electricity. Even though there is no killer solar flares that could burn us to ash, will we still get fried by the strong radiation because of the weakening magnetic field we are having now?

2) Will there be a perfect planetary alignment between the sun, the earth and the center of the galaxy in 2012 ?
This scientist said it is true and it occurs every year...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPBtJT0yFpg (around the middle part of the video, i want know if i misunderstood what he said..)
If yes, will it creates disaster to human?

I'm not good at science so please give me some explanations, thanks !

Answer 1

There is not an increased number of earthquakes. What is happening is that you hear about more of them. That's it. 100 years ago, you might never, ever hear of an earthquake in China, or the one in Chile. Communication was primitive by the standards we have today.



Solar maximum is a repeating event - has not caused any problems beyond some interference with communication satellites. If we still relied on the Pony Express and Clipper ships for communication, then we would never even care about this.



I like Neil deGrasse Tyson. I've read some of his books, but he does not appear in the video clip that is in your link. I think that clip is trying to debunk the idea of any planetary alignment - but it was not totally clear, and is seemed to be invoking astrology charts to make its point - astrology charts are useless and meaningless. Maybe this is the wrong link.



In any case, if you were in a position to look down from above the galaxy, you can always draw a straight line from the center of the galaxy through the sun. Because the earth orbits the sun, it will cross that line two times in each orbit. Once where the earth is between the sun and the center of the galaxy, and once when the earth is on the far side of the sun. This has happened for about 4 1/2 billion years. No big deal



This year, perhaps, the tilt of the earth's orbit is such that you could also draw a straight line between the three points if you also looked at them from the side as well as from above. Again - no big deal.

Answer 2

No there aren't: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/increase_in_earthquakes.php



The Earth's magnetic field is not related to earthquakes.



No.



Magnetic pole shifts are not related to extinctions.



I assume you want scientific proof that it will happen. There is none.



We seemed to have escaped being fried at the last solar maximum in 2001 and all the previous maxima at 11 year intervals. And - get this - the next maximum is expected to be less energetic than the last in 2001.



A rough alignment, but not perfect. Yes it does occur every year and no it doesn't have the slightest effect on us.

You seem to have been reading a lot of nonsense. Look at the site below for a more thorough explanation of why nothing will happen in 2012.

Answer 3

No. Magnetic fields and earthquakes have nothing to do with each other.



Maybe we are in the process of a magnetic pole shift; if we are, the shift will take about 10,000 years or more. There have been 1000's of magnetic poles shifts in Earth's history, and none of them are correlated to any mass extinctions.



No, we will not get "fried" by the strong radiation. Even the weakest magnetic field is 5 times stronger than needed to protect us.



No, there will not be a perfect planetary alignment. Not in 2012, not ever. The closest it got was within 6.4 degrees, and that was back in around 1998.

Answer 4

We are in the process of shifting of the magnetic poles, and usually this phenomenon happens every few thousand years and is accompanied by some earthquakes.

This got nothing to do with 2012, and there is no perfect alignment as the one you talk about, it doesn't happen, never happened. What Prof. DeGrasse Tyson talked about was the alignment of the Earth, the Sun and the center of the Galaxy, and its happens every year, and its simple, cause the Earth is orbiting the Sun, and the Sun is orbiting the Milky Way center, so at a certain period of time, Earth will align with the other two.



I dont think there are any mass extinctions, however I dont know about the solar flares NASA talked about.

Answer 5

What a rubbish.



1. Earthquakes do not increase. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/learn/topics/increase_in_earthquakes.php

2. solar maximum happens about every 11.5 years - See Sun spot cycle. Solar storms or coronal mass ejections happen every year. Even during the solar minimum. We just had a beautiful one in January.



http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=42646



3. The supposed alignment happened for 6 years in every winter solstice around 1960. Every year, around the winter solstice, Earth passes the galactic 0° meridian - the true center is just 2.5° away, and not inside the ecliptic plane currently.



Nothing happened. There is no reason for any such stupid doomsday claims.