mycatpeesinmyshower t1_j2bo11r wrote on December 31, 2022 at 1:37 AM

Reply to comment by r2k-in-the-vortex in How much does the liquid magma of the Earth affect it's surface temperature? by tripperfunster

Also without magma moving iron around we wouldn’t have a magnetic flow and we’d be like Mars and lose all our atmosphere right?

starlevel01 t1_j2cfzkj wrote on December 31, 2022 at 5:23 AM

If the magnetic field turned off tomorrow, it would take many millions of years for the solar wind to strip our atmosphere away. The biosphere replenishes lost gases very quickly as well, and whilst that wouldn't really like the extra solar radiation it would eventually adapt.

mycatpeesinmyshower t1_j2cgpsh wrote on December 31, 2022 at 5:30 AM

Well if we didn’t have it in the past we likely wouldn’t be here today.

BluScr33n t1_j2doxc7 wrote on December 31, 2022 at 2:18 PM

No, Earth is way more massive than Mars and won't lose its atmosphere as easily. The upper layer of the atmosphere is ionized by solar radiation. Instead of simply stripping our atmosphere away, the solar wind would induce a magnetic field in this upper ionosphere. And this induced magnetic field would exactly cancel the magnetic field from the solar wind, ultimately deflecting the solar wind around Earth. This is exactly what happened on Venus and is one of the reasons why Venus still has an atmosphere.

The same thing also happens on Mars, but because Mars is significantly less massive it still lost most of its atmosphere over time from various processes.

But you are correct with your idea that Earth would lose its intrinsic magnetic field if the core cooled down and solidified.