A Liquid Sodium Laboratory Model of the Earth

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9903162 Lathrop This project seeks to understand magnetic field generation by the flow of liquid metals (dynamo action) through carefully controlled experiments in liquid sodium. The goal is to better characterize and to better understand the dynamo theory that seeks to explain magnetic field generation for the Earth and other astrophysical bodies. The research plan is to continue work on two existing sodium experiments, while constructing and exploring a new rotating convection experiment. This new experiment consists of a rotating inner and outer spherical boundary with convecting liquid sodium in between. Additionally, the investigators will undertake a direct comparison between these experiments and numerical simulations to be performed by Gary Glatzmaier at the University of California, Santa Cruz. These comparisons will afford a direct test of the model assumptions used in modern simulations of the earth's outer core.