What will happen when the Earth’s poles swap?
What will happen with the Earth’s poles swap? And why do planets spin? Rutherford & Fry investigate.
The Polar Opposite
No one knows why the Earth's magnetic North and South poles swap. But polar reversals have happened hundreds of times over the history of the Earth.
John Turk emailed curiouscases@bbc.co.uk to ask, “when is the next pole swap due and what will happen to us?”
Featuring Prof Lucie Green from Mullard Space Science Laboratory and Dr Phil Livermore from the University of Leeds.
Plus, astronaut Terry Virts, author of The View from Above, describes his experiences of a strange magnetic glitch in the earth's magnetic field, known as The Bermuda Triangle of Space.
The World That Turns
"Why does the Earth spin?" asks Joe Wills from Accra in Ghana.
Hannah quizzes cosmologist Andrew Pontzen about the birth of the Solar System. BBC weatherman John Hammond describes the curious things that would happen if the Earth spun the opposite way.
Send your questions to: curiouscases@bbc.co.uk
Picture: The Earth reflecting light from the sun whilst aboard the International Space Station, Credit: Alexander Gerst / ESA via Getty Images
Producer: Michelle Martin
Last on
Clips
![]()
What would happen if the Earth spun backwards?
Duration: 01:10
![]()
Where does space begin?
Duration: 01:19
Broadcasts
- Mon 20 Nov 201720:32GMTBBC World Service Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
- Mon 20 Nov 201721:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia, South Asia & East Asia only
- Tue 21 Nov 201705:32GMTBBC World Service except Australasia, East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
- Tue 21 Nov 201707:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia & East and Southern Africa only
- Tue 21 Nov 201715:32GMTBBC World Service Australasia
- Tue 21 Nov 201718:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Wed 22 Nov 201703:32GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa
- Sun 26 Nov 201702:32GMTBBC World Service except News Internet & West and Central Africa
- Mon 27 Nov 201701:32GMTBBC World Service West and Central Africa
Featured in...
![]()
The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry—Discovery
Scientific sleuths Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry answer perplexing questions
The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry
Podcast
![]()
Discovery
Explorations in the world of science.






