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Earth and the Moon

The Magnetic Field

How strong is Earth’s magnetic field?

On typical human scales, it is pretty weak; at Earth’s surface, it is about one gauss in most places. (A refrigerator magnet is typically ten to one hundred gauss.) However, the energy in a magnetic field depends strongly on its volume; so since the field is bigger than our entire planet, overall, Earth’s magnetic power is formidable.



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