Find lots of information about our planet Earth here. Covers basic facts, Earth's history, layers of the Earth, plate tectonics, composition of the atmosphere, Earth's magnetic field, and some facts about our moon.

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discusses what a magnetic field reversal is and the evidence that this has happened with the Earth.

The earth's magnetic poles have reversed themselves throughout the earth's history. Find out how scientists know that this happened.

Leon Foucault, a French physicist much better known for his pendulum demonstrating the rotation of the Earth, also created in 1855 a device that illustrated how eddy currents work. (Java tutorial)

Students use iron filings to explore the magnetic field around a magnet and record their observations then apply their experience with the magnet to understand the magnetic field around Earth.

Provides a short article, with embedded links, about magnetic reversals and how they might occur.

Create a magnetic field that is stronger than Earth so a compass needle will orient itself to the new field in this activity.

In this activity, students will create their own simple compass, be able to explain how a compass works, understand that the Earth's magnetic field has both horizontal and vertical components, and learn more about cardinal directions.

Named in honor of Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted, Denmark's first satellite has been observing and mapping the magnetic field of the Earth.

William Gilbert was an English physician and natural philosopher who wrote a six-volume treatise that compiled all of the information regarding magnetism and electricity known at the time. The work included descriptions of many of...

[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Discover how scientists learn about Earth's interior using seismic waves, meteorites, density, and the magnetic field. Additional resources are available for download.

The Earth, the moon, the stars and just about everything in between has a magnetic field, and scientists use magnetometers when they need to know the strength of those fields.