Seeing all iron magnets lose their magnetism over time*, I propose the planet Earth needs a keeper.
It's less tricky than you think. All it needs a base station at each pole and very long bit of iron. See image in link.
The very long bit of iron could be, say 35,000 feet up, so giving long-haul planes somewhere to perch, eat some bird seed and it's put its cockpit under its wing to get 40 winks.
*maybe-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 02 2018 Earth Keeper https://drive.googl...w97DpxGlPqEglp6OVRD [not_morrison_rm, Jun 02 2018] The Earh?
Alas, though, I'm not convinced this is needed. The Earh's magnetic field is supposedly generated by convection in the iron-nickel core. It's all a bit arm-wavey, but the basic argument is that the flow, in the presence of a magnetic field, generates a current which in turn generates the magnetic field, in a sort of pulling-yourself-up -by-your- bootlaces manner.
However, it is interesting to ponder what would happen if you provided an additional path for the magnetism. I can confidently say that I have no idea of the answer.
On reflection, though, I think there's a fair chance that it would work like some sort of homopolar motor, and the iron band would begin to circle the earth at ever-increasing speeds.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 02 2018 Apologies, the T key on my keyboard is wearing out, so here are some spare t's/T' s just in case.
//the iron band would begin to circle the earth at ever- increasing speeds.
Gadzooks, either the world's largest fun ride, or swatter of unwanted bits of the cosmic ...-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 02 2018 Apologies, the T key on my keyboard is wearing out, so here are some spare t's/T' s just in case.
Gadzooks, either the world's largest fun ride, or swatter of unwanted bits of the cosmic ...-- not_morrison_rm, Jun 02 2018 ...or a way to extract energy from earth's magnetic field. How much could we get anyway?-- Voice, Jun 02 2018 Loads .... shhhh, and we'll let you have some (until the poles flip, which will be sooner now).-- 8th of 7, Jun 02 2018 random, halfbakery