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Lightning from a supercell captured in
Paducah, Texas. Image credit: Kelly DeLay |
Ionized particles from the Sun contribute to electric discharges on Earth
Electric Universe theories propose that plasma discharge behavior is a
better model for solar activity than most consensus opinions would like
to accept. Experiments using a
positively charged
sphere show that a plasma torus forms above its equator. Charged plasma
bridges the torus, coupling the sphere’s middle and lower latitudes,
consistent with the principle of “anode tufting,” a plasma discharge
effect expected from a positively charged
electric Sun.
Sunspot filaments, seen clearly in sunspot penumbrae, indicate that
they are rapidly rotating charge vortices. Electric discharges in plasma
form rope-like, hollow tendrils, so looking down into a sunspot will
reveal its rotating discharge columns in profile. Since they are funnels
of plasma, their centers are darker, where convection cells would
appear darker at their edges.
Since the Sun is the most powerful electrical entity in the Solar
System, it stands to reason that its influence will extend outward as
far as its heliospheric boundary. That influence, as previous Pictures
of the Day argue, instigates many electrical phenomena on Earth.
A recent
press release
ignores the primary electrical aspect of the Sun, preferring to focus
on magnetic reconnection as the major factor in the Sun’s impact on
lightning generation. It is a step forward for heliophysicists and
planetary scientists to acknowledge the Sun-Earth connection, but it is
disappointing to see them rely on such a poorly supported theory like
magnetic reconnection.
Briefly, according to the announcement, solar magnetic field lines
“stretch between two points…twist and entangle”, forming magnetic flux
ropes that snap, releasing enormous energy that blasts away from the Sun
as a solar flare or a coronal mass ejection. The field lines then relax
until the next energy build-up.
Electric discharges in plasma create tube-like magnetic sheaths along
their axes. If enough electric charge flows, it will cause the sheath
to glow, sometimes creating a number of other sheaths within it. The
sheaths are called “double layers.” Powerful electric fields appear
between regions in the double layers, which accelerate charged
particles. Sometimes, the stored electrical energy will be
catastrophically released in a “
Langmuir burst.” Those bursts are what conventional astrophysicists incorrectly call “magnetic reconnection”.
It is a confirmed fact that the movement of electric charges in
plasma forms electromagnetic fields that constrict the current. As
previous Picture of the Day articles point out, the constricted channel
is known as a “Bennett pinch,” or “z-pinch.” The pinched electric
filaments remain coherent over long distances, forming helical
structures that can transmit power through space. It is that phenomenon
that scientists refer to as flux ropes. They are also known as Birkeland
currents.
Electric fields freely accelerate charged particles, which move
outward in opposite directions, activating an electric current that
follows the Sun’s magnetic field. That field is carried into Earth’s
electrical environment along gigantic Birkeland current filaments. It
was reported elsewhere that in September 2002 a major premise of
Electric Universe theory was confirmed: weather systems on Earth are
electrically connected to a field of charged particles called the
ionosphere. Dual bands of plasma shining in ultraviolet light were found
by the
IMAGE satellite. The
plasma streams are circling the Earth in opposite directions along the
equator, carrying positive and negative electric charges.
Along with that observation, the Time History of Events and
Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) satellites found what
were called “space tornadoes” (Birkeland currents), electrified plasma
vortices rotating faster than 1,600,000 kilometers per hour, about
64,000 kilometers from Earth. The THEMIS satellites, together with
Earth-based stations, verified that those charged plasma formations are
connected to the ionosphere. This means that the Sun is directly coupled
to lightning generators on Earth—otherwise called thunderstorms.
As previously written, the capacitor effect is probably what
contributes to lightning discharges. Capacitors are usually made of two
conductors separated by an insulating medium, or dielectric insulator.
An electric charge on one conductor attracts an opposite charge to the
other conductor, resulting in an electric field between them that acts
as an electrical energy reserve. Thunderstorms are most likely behaving
like capacitors: the clouds are one plate, the ground another, and the
atmosphere is the dielectric insulator.
Since the clouds are connected to the ionosphere, electric charges
carried into the ionosphere by the solar wind cause increases in the
electrical energy in the clouds, which also increases the stored charge
in the ground. That accumulated charge overcomes the atmosphere’s
ability to keep the two separate, so they reach out to each other in the
form of “leader strokes.” When the two lightning leaders meet, a
circuit between the clouds and the ground (or between one cloud and
another) is completed: lightning flashes.
Stephen Smith
Click
here for a Spanish translation
