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1. Earth’s internal structure: dense solid metallic core, viscous metallic outer core, mantle and silicate-based crust. NASA 2. Illustration of the dynamo mechanism that creates Earth's magnetic field: convection currents of fluid metal in Earth's outer core, driven by heat flow from the inner core, organized into rolls by the Coriolis force, create circulating electric currents, which generate the magnetic field. Andrew Z. Colvin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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1. Earth’s internal structure: dense solid metallic core, viscous metallic outer core, mantle and silicate-based crust. NASA 2. Illustration of the dynamo mechanism that creates Earth's magnetic field: convection currents of fluid metal in Earth's outer core, driven by heat flow from the inner core, organized into rolls by the Coriolis force, create circulating electric currents, which generate the magnetic field. Andrew Z. Colvin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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AkaSci 🛰️ (akasci@fosstodon.org)'s status on Tuesday, 24-Dec-2024 18:20:50 JST AkaSci 🛰️
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Earth's magnetic field is generated by the convective movement of its ~2,250 km thick outer core, composed of molten iron and nickel.
Heat is generated by potential energy released by heavier materials sinking toward the core and by decay of radioactive elements.
The heat creates convection currents in the molten metal, which are organized into rolls by earth's rotation and the Coriolis force. This creates electric currents which generate the magnetic field.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/earths-magnetosphere-protecting-our-planet-from-harmful-space-energy/
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