dipolar hypothesis

geophysics
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dipolar hypothesis, theory that the Earth’s magnetic field is produced or is best represented by a magnetic dipole, a body having poles of opposite sign, that is, positive and negative. In the first quantitative study made of the Earth’s magnetic field, William Gilbert observed that it resembled the magnetic field of a uniformly magnetized sphere. This field is the same as that of a magnetic dipole, and early theories of the origin of the geomagnetic field postulated some sort of lodestone or gigantic iron bar magnet within the Earth that gave rise to this dipolar field. Measurements and projections of ...(100 of 209 words)