[RightWhale]

Right, but we don't know. My point is that we assume it is earth's core generating the magfield. The atmosphere could be doing it. All you need is dipoles. A quart of free electrons would create a field as strong as earth's gravity, so the atmosphere is plenty to generate the magfield.

[inquest]

OK, here's where I'm my ignorance is going to start showing. If there's a charge in an atmosphere, wouldn't there be an equal and opposite charge somewhere else in the atmosphere, or at the surface? That being the case, wouldn't the field generated by one area of charge be canceled by a field generated by the other?