Scientist Reva compared magnetic storms to magnets on a refrigerator

Magnetic storms have a much weaker effect on humans than conventional refrigerator magnets. This was announced on November 13 by a senior researcher at the Space Research Institute (IRI). RAN Anton Reva in an interview with Izvestia.

According to the scientist, most experts agree that the negative impact of magnetic storms on health is often exaggerated.

"A person still conducts a little electric current, and a magnetic storm can induce some microscopic currents in the human body. But these currents should be about a thousand times weaker <...> than the currents that run through our nerves and muscles. And such a weak effect cannot affect a person," Reva said.

He added that it is currently not possible to establish the exact nature of the possible influence, and if the effect exists, it is extremely subtle and has not yet been proven. At the same time, people are really influenced by a psychological factor: anxiety and panic can worsen their well-being much more noticeably than the geomagnetic fluctuations themselves.

"An ordinary refrigerator magnet creates a magnetic field about a thousand times stronger than the disturbance created by a magnetic storm," the scientist noted.

According to him, many people come very close to the refrigerator, and houses are often hung with dozens of magnets, but "people don't complain about refrigerator magnets."

A series of powerful flares occurred on the Sun. What you need to know

On November 12, the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy at the IKI RAS reported that a powerful planetary-scale magnetic storm hit the Earth on Wednesday morning. The cause of the phenomenon, as scientists point out, was the arrival of the first of three expected plasma clouds caused by extreme solar activity to the planet. It is noted that the geomagnetic situation is developing according to an unexpected scenario — the current storm significantly exceeds forecasts, according to which only weak disturbances of the G1-G2 level were expected.

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