In reply to Frederick Sparber's message of Tue, 12 Dec 2006 05:13:28 -0700: Hi, [snip] >Yes. What I really want is a Sphere within a Sphere or Cylinder within a >Cylinder >(or combinations thereof) using the VDG to transfer electrons >from the inner sphere or cylinder (where I can work safely in a field-free >region) >to the outer sphere or cylinder, to ascertain a force against the >Earth's Megacoulomb Charge without building up an attracting >image charge: > >http://www.nofc.forestry.ca/fire/faq_lightning_e.php#one > >"The Earth is electrically charged and acts as a spherical capacitor. The >Earth has a net negative charge of about a million coulombs, while an equal >and positive charge resides in the atmosphere."
They got the charge wrong. Quote:- "The electrical resistivity of the atmosphere decreases with height to an altitude of about 48 kilometres (km), where the resistivity becomes more-or-less constant. This region is known as the electrosphere. There is about a 300 000 volt (V) potential difference between the Earth's surface and the electrosphere, which gives an average electric field strength of about 6 V/metre (m) throughout the atmosphere." Based on an altitude of 48 km, and a voltage of 300000 V, the charge is only 28440 C. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
