Abstract
No one will disagree with Prof. Alfvén when he stresses the desirability of attempting scale-model experiments of geophysical phenomena in the laboratory. Unfortunately, experience shows that unambiguous experiments of this type are hard to make : a recent study of such an experiment devised by Chapman1 to test theories of magnetic storms reveals some of the difficulties. It would seem that in the field of low-pressure physics, Nature still provides the laboratory best suited for illustrating fundamental principles in action. Certainly, to date, all scale-model attempts to illustrate theories of magnetic storms have yielded ambiguous results : in Alfvén's own recent words2, “we ought to be careful in applying a result from a scale-model experiment to Nature”.
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References
Chapman, S., J. Atmos. and Terr. Phys., 1, 189 (1951).
Alfvén, H., “Cosmical Electrodynamics”, 203 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1950).
Chapman, S., and Ferraro, V. C. A., Terr. Mag., 36, 77 (1931).
Vestine, E. H., and Chapman, S., Terr. Mag., 43, 351 (1938).
Kirkpatrick, C. B. (to be published shortly).
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MARTYN, D. The Theory of Magnetic Storms and Auroras. Nature 167, 984–985 (1951). https://doi.org/10.1038/167984b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/167984b0
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