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Chalkarts t1_jds7f2j wrote

Reply to comment by acfox13 in Around 550 million years ago the earth's magnetic field almost collapsed, but then strengthened a few million years later. Scientists say this may have been due to the formation of the inner core. But why exactly would that cause the magnetic field to get stronger? by somethingX

I was recently contemplating how similar fast moving river water with its swirls and waves looks a lot like atmosphere of a gas giant, or the formation of galaxies. Made me wonder if magnetism and gravity were the only forms of “drag” giving the swirling galaxies their shape since there are no shorelines or rock to provide it in space.

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Rootriver t1_jdu2vtj wrote

> Made me wonder if magnetism and gravity were the only forms of “drag”

Yes and no (at least according to the current main theories of physics). In a way in that scale gravitation and electromagnetism are the only meaningful forces, but forces (or rather interactions) called strong interaction and weak interaction can have pretty drastic local effects (these forces only work on very short distances, i.e. atomic and subatomic level) that can then affect the things on larger scale.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Model

Note: my knowledge here is bit rusty (pre observed Higgs boson) and elementary level.

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