Two Planets, Two Paths
In Two Planets, Two Paths, Professor Brian Cox explains what happened 4.6 billion years ago when Mars and Earth formed. The formation set these two planets, which were made of similar material, on very different paths. Learn how the magnetic field around Earth provides protection and how Mars’s magnetic field died out. This video is excerpted from BBC’s Brian Cox’s Adventures in Space and Time, a series that seeks to explain our place in the Universe. Professor Brian Cox looks back on decades of discovery and toward the next frontier in space, pondering the question: What’s next?
Lesson Express
Q: How can we see the radiation that surrounds the Earth?
A: It is visible in the auroras at the North and South Poles.
Q: How is the magnetic field around the Earth set up?
A: There is liquid iron in the core that establishes the magnetic field.
Q: What happened to Mars’s magnetic field? What was the result for Mars?
A: Mars formed farther from the Sun and is smaller than Earth, so its core cooled faster and its protective shield died out. All the atmospheric components got stripped away because there was no shield to protect them.
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