ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science

Doomsday part 3: The magnetic poles are shifting!

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
December 20, 2012
in Science
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

mayan-doomsday-special-zmescience

Something really bad is going to happen, and the Earth’s rotation will shift, rotating the other way, which will cause a magnetic pole reversal, which is going to rain all sorts of havoc on terrestrial life.

As the poles shift, there will be a massive continental drift, with landmasses plunging in towards each other, bringing earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and making all life on the planet all but extinct.

Oh, and even without the earthquakes and volcanoes, the magnetic shift itself will bring an end to the world as we know it.

Reality check!!!

As a geologist, it hurts my brain to write things like this, and to see that people actually believe something like this could happen… it’s painful to see how ignorant we are about the very planet we live on.

A shift in Earth’s rotation is impossible; unless, that is, a solar system sized galactic panda comes and starts manually spinning our planet the other way. It’s about as likely as that; and even if this did happen, it has absolutely nothing to do with magnetic pole reversal. People advertising this false doomsday use a bait and switch tactic, making senseless correlations.

Geomagnetic reversal, the phenomenon during which the North and South pole switch position is a well known and documented phenomena that has happened for hundreds of times in the Earth’s history, on average at about 400.000 years. The process itself takes a few millenia, and there’s no reason to believe it will happen again any time soon (next few millenia). Furthermore, even if it did happen, there’s absolutely no reason to believe that such a shift would harm life forms.

RelatedPosts

Ancient 2,500-year-old mural depicts exchange of salt as a commodity
NASA discovers Mars has a magnetic tail twisted by solar wind
Doomsday part 4: Solar flares
Magnetic anomaly from 11 million years ago could help us understand how poles flip

Read about other popular Mayan doomsday “prophecies” from our debunking series:

  • Doomsday part 1: The Maya calendar predicts the end of the world
  • Doomsday part 2: Nibiru (Planet X) is coming
  • Doomsday part 3: The magnetic poles are shifting!
  • Doomsday part 4: solar flares 
  • Doomsday part 5: Planetary and galactic alignment 
  • Doomsday part 6: asteroid strike 
Tags: magnetic fieldmayamayan calendar

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

The 4,500-year-old elite Caral woman.
Archaeology

This Woman Who Lived 4,500 Years Ago in One of Americas’ Oldest Civilizations Still Has Hair and Nails

byRupendra Brahambhatt
3 months ago
Future

The World’s Smallest Flying Robot Is Here. It Weighs Less Than a Raindrop and It’s Powered by Invisible Forces

byTibi Puiu
4 months ago
News

The Magnetic North Pole Has Shifted Again. Here’s Why It Matters

byTibi Puiu
8 months ago
Geology

Researchers find evidence of hot water on Mars — in a rock on Earth

byMihai Andrei
9 months ago

Recent news

The UK Government Says You Should Delete Emails to Save Water. That’s Dumb — and Hypocritical

August 16, 2025

In Denmark, a Vaccine Is Eliminating a Type of Cervical Cancer

August 16, 2025
This Picture of the Week shows a stunning spiral galaxy known as NGC 4945. This little corner of space, near the constellation of Centaurus and over 12 million light-years away, may seem peaceful at first — but NGC 4945 is locked in a violent struggle. At the very centre of nearly every galaxy is a supermassive black hole. Some, like the one at the centre of our own Milky Way, aren’t particularly hungry. But NGC 4945’s supermassive black hole is ravenous, consuming huge amounts of matter — and the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has caught it playing with its food. This messy eater, contrary to a black hole’s typical all-consuming reputation, is blowing out powerful winds of material. This cone-shaped wind is shown in red in the inset, overlaid on a wider image captured with the MPG/ESO telescope at La Silla. In fact, this wind is moving so fast that it will end up escaping the galaxy altogether, lost to the void of intergalactic space. This is part of a new study that measured how winds move in several nearby galaxies. The MUSE observations show that these incredibly fast winds demonstrate a strange behaviour: they actually speed up far away from the central black hole, accelerating even more on their journey to the galactic outskirts. This process ejects potential star-forming material from a galaxy, suggesting that black holes control the fates of their host galaxies by dampening the stellar birth rate. It also shows that the more powerful black holes impede their own growth by removing the gas and dust they feed on, driving the whole system closer towards a sort of galactic equilibrium. Now, with these new results, we are one step closer to understanding the acceleration mechanism of the winds responsible for shaping the evolution of galaxies, and the history of the universe. Links  Research paper in Nature Astronomy by Marconcini et al. Close-up view of NGC 4945’s nucleus

Astronomers Find ‘Punctum,’ a Bizarre Space Object That Might be Unlike Anything in the Universe

August 15, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.