Making a First Magnet

MPEG video of the numerical simulation of the generation of the first magnetic fields in the universe.
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Explanation

Does cosmological reionization - the process of transformation of the cosmic gas, which fills most of the universe, from a neutral (gaseous) into an ionized (plasma) state - have anything to do with highway safety?

Perhaps, it does, after all: if we rode horses rather than drove cars, highways would be much safer. And we can drive our cars, because we can start them. We can start cars, because they have starter motors. Starter motors are electric motors, they work because they have magnets in them. So, how did the magnets come to be?

While scientists do not know for sure how the magnetic fields (the substance that makes a magnet a magnet) originated, one of the possibilities is that the process of re-ionization of the universe also resulted in the generation of the first magnetic fields. While the details of how this happens perhaps involve too much physics and math (but you are still welcome to look at the professional page on this subject), you can observe how the magnetic field comes into existence in the movies above.

The movie above shows a simulation of mine that models cosmological reionization - the end of the dark ages. You will see four panels: the lower left panel shows the density of cosmic gas (dark - low density, bright - high density). The upper left panel shows how much of this gas is neutral (normal gas), and how much is ionized (plasma - the so called fourth state of matter). Pink means that gas is neutral, and black means that gas is fully ionized. Anything in between means a mixture of the two. The universe starts neutral (pink), and becomes ionized after reionization (black almost everywhere). The lower right panel shows the temperature of the gas - the brighter the hotter. The lowest temperature shown (dark blue) is about 1,300^oF. The upper right panel shows the magnetic field, as it is being produced while the universe is being ionized. The total amount of magnetic field produced is not very large, certainly not enough to start your car, but scientist know how the magnetic field increases inside our Galaxy. What is not known is how this very first, "seed" field is generated. Reionization is one of the answers.

Disclaimer: I never-the-less cannot be held responsible for all those poor souls who die every year in automobile accidents.