Loree Pons of Menifee, Calif., asks:
Why are the geographic north pole and magnetic north pole in different locations?
The geographic north pole marks one end of Earth’s axis of rotation. However, this rotation alone is not what causes our magnetic field. Our planet also has deep layers—the inner and outer cores—that spin, and at different rates. The process creates currents and convections in the molten outer core. All of this action generates an effect like a huge electromagnet, creating one magnetic pole in the north and another in the south. They don’t correspond to the geographic poles, which are just one visible factor in the whole complex phenomenon. This is why the magnetic poles are not located at the geographic poles and wander constantly—daily, in fact.