This made me wonder how much electrical energy would be thus stored in this Earth-atmosphere capacitor:
C*V^2/2=q*V/2 = (28 440 * 300 000) / 2 = 4 266 000 000 = 4.3*10^9 J This is two orders of magnitude less than the 4.3*10^11 J order of magnitude estimate at page 20 of this physics lecture material (a good reference for capacitor calculations BTW): http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/632.ral5q.summer06/Lecture1-16_Powerpoints/lecture_5_mat/PHYS632_C5_25_Capac.ppt This energy, according to the same source, is renewed daily by the sun (king sized photovoltaic module ;). But even their much higher estimate is still 2 million times less than the world's daily energy consumption (about 10^18J), very disappointing! Michel ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robin van Spaandonk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "vortex-l" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:32 PM Subject: Re: [Vo]: Re: Going Van de Graaff > 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. >
