In reply to Chris Zell's message of Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:28:27 -0700 (PDT): Hi, [snip] >I was wondering if anyone knew a thorough answer to the question: How can a >charged thunderstorm exist? I've asked meterologists this question but no one >has any answer. > >How can a cloud carry any charge at all? Why doesn't the charge cause the >cloud to instantly dissipate? If we can demonstrate electrostatic >precipitation with a small cloud chamber, how can any thunderstorm exist at >all?
I think it's because small spurious charges are carried by relatively large objects, e.g. a single water droplet may have only a few extra electrons (or be a few short). This gives gravity a chance to exceed the electrical force in magnitude for that particle. When many such charged particles fall, they carry their charge with them, resulting in a large voltage difference between e.g. ground and cloud. Eventually the air resistance breaks down and you get lightning. Another opposing force that plays a role is friction. Wind can move relatively large particles with a small charge against an electrostatic space charge, building the voltage. The reason that the clouds don't "fly apart" is that the droplets are too massive, and separated by distances that are relatively large compared to the forces due to their excess charge. IOW they do "fly apart", but only very slowly. Another question is why individual charged droplets don't fly apart, and I think that's because the cohesion forces due to many polar bonds exceed the repulsive forces due to the few excess charges, which spread out as far as possible from one another on the surface of the droplet. It is sort of analogous to an atomic nucleus that hangs together despite the repulsion forces of the protons. > >Another mystery: How can an electron cloud exist in a vacuum tube? How can it >hold itself together? It doesn't hold itself together. In fact it is balanced between the repulsion of other electrons and the attraction of the nearby electrode. > >It just seems to me that there are exceptions to the idea that like charges >always repel - a notion that might guide us to free energy. You should check out http://www.singtech.com/ :) [snip] Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
