MAGNETOWERS

Technological Building

location / North Pole, South Pole
design / Bartosz Puchalski, Anna Zgadzaj, Patryk Król
organizer / eVolo
area / 18000sqm
year / 2017
stage / competition project

INTRODUCTION:
On December 22, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched a mission to study the Earth’s magnetic field. The SWARM mission successfully launched three satellites to obtain new information about our planet in order to develop knowledge related to the Earth’s core and climate. One of the mission’s findings was that polarity was not constant. Contrary to a classic magnet, the matter that produces the Earth’s magnetic field moves. Geophysicists are almost certain that the reason why the Earth has a magnetic field is because of its core filled with iron. It is surrounded by a layer of molten metal. The flow of liquid iron in the Earth’s core creates an electricity which in turn creates a magnetic field.

The satellite readings showed that the Earth’s magnetic field is weakening much faster than suggested in previous studies. These measurements show that the planet’s geomagnetic field weakens by 5% every decade. There are many dangers associated with the loss of the magnetic field, such as disrupting the operation of compasses, some animals may become disoriented by disturbing their magnetoreceptors, lack of the Northern Lights, the technology of most satellites will be destroyed (no magnetosphere) and the most dangerous: not protecting the planet from solar winds that they can contribute to the “blowing” the atmosphere from our planet (this was probably the cause of the Martian atmosphere disappearance).

PROBLEM IDENTYFICATION:
The planet’s magnetic field appears to be declining much faster than previous studies have suggested, with potentially catastrophic consequences for our planet. The task of skyscrapers is to maintain the natural magnetic field of the planet so as to avoid environmental disasters. The project was conceived with the idea of ​​creating a magnetic field amplifier and includes two twin towers located at the geomagnetic north and south poles.

TECHNOLOGY:
Each tower is a 9 km long electromagnet with opposite poles depending on which pole of the planet it is placed on. The core of both towers was designed as a powerful electromagnet to continually support the Earth’s weakening geomagnetic field. The stems contain multiple electromagnetic cores made of copper.

CONSTRUCTION:
The outer skin of the building was made of reinforced ice. To increase the strength of the ice, water was mixed with a special substance that prevents cracks. Such a reinforcement is usually homogeneously mixed (microscopic). Tests show that such ice can be significantly strengthened by adding dumps: quartz sands, coarse gravel sands.

The outer ice structure of the building is supported by the inner shell of the nano-steel structure inspired by the molecular structure of ice. An electromagnet this size needs a lot of power. They are provided by the power plant located under the disc surrounding the buildings. There are solar collectors on the disk that generate energy from sunlight. The innovative spherical solar panels are designed to absorb the sun’s rays from all angles. This not only means more efficient, but also less power to move the solar panels.