Apparent geological polar wander, and alternative hypothesis for it?

So every millions of years the poles reverse. It have an exam tomorrow over this section and I just don't understand it as well as I should. What are some hypothesis for polar wander? What exactly is it?





Please make your answers as simple as possible, this is a lower level class I really just need the main idea. Thanks!|||The earth's magnetic field is created in the earth's core. Many geologists who study the earth's interior believe the magnetic field is created as the inner core spins. One hypothesis I've heard is that the poles reverse periodically due to the interaction between the solid inner core and the liquid outer core.


Another hypothesis deals with the interaction of the magnetic fields of the earth and sun. basically, that, every few million years, the sun "freaks out" and has extreme periods of high solar activity and that extremely strong solar storms interfere with the earth's magnetic field so strongly that it causes a reaction (reversal) in the core to keep the magnetic field stable.


I think that the first hypothesis has more merit because of strength fluctuations that have been measured in the magnetic field both presently and estimates of the strength of the field in the rock record around the times that the poles have switched. Those records indicate that the earth's magnetic field weakens before a reversal and strenthen again after the reversal.|||The magnetic poles reverse (not the actual physical ones). If you're judging the direction to the poles by the magnetization in the rocks, if the rocks move after they form then the apparent direction to the pole will change. So plate tectonics can cause apparent polar wander as it moves the plates around. Also the magnetic pole is usually not perfectly aligned with the physical pole, so as the magnetic pole moves the magnetization in the rocks will point different directions also, although those still should be close to the geographic pole direction