Magnetic to the core was our stand at the famous Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in central London.

There were loads of exciting activities, cool things to see and learn, and friendly researchers to talk to. Best of all, it was completely free!

Visitors discovered what happens to compasses as they pulled a lever to make Earth’s magnetic field reverse!

Others learnt about our fascinating field work and took a selfie drilling rocks like a real palaeomagnetist!

A really popular activity involved learning about how rocks contain magnetic minerals and using this to find out whether pebbles we gave out were safe to eat!

Visitors also measured the magnetic records within real rocks and found out whether they formed at a time when Earth’s magnetic poles were flipped.

More information about Earth’s magnetic field