Re: Charge on the Earth

[sample@lyon.edu (John D. Sample)]

At 12:07 AM on 4/8/97, <James McLean> wrote:

> Return-Path: owner-phys-l@atlantis.cc.uwf.edu
>
> John Mallinckrodt says:
> > Because of the fact that the earth itself deviates substantially from
> > electrical neutrality (with typical fields near the surface of 100 V/m
> > implying a total charge on the order of half a million C), no object--
> > capacitor, battery, or flying squirrel--is likely to be neutral either.
>
> Can you suggest a reference or two that gives more details about the charge
> of the earth or the ambient fields typically found near the surface?
> I knew the earth had a magnetic field, but I didn't know that it had an
> electric one.
>
> --
> --James McLean
> jmclean@chem.ucsd.edu
> post doc
> UC San Diego, Chemistry

I recommend a couple of books by Martin Uman which are now published by
Dover.  "All About Lightning" ISBN 0-486-25237-x which is non-technical,
and the more technical version, "Lightning" which includes lots of graphs
and data.  Both explain how lightning storms around the world maintain a
net negative charge on the earth, and a positive charge on the upper
atmosphere.

I'm pretty sure that Jearl Walker's "Flying Circus of Physics (with
answers)" has the basic explanation too.

Chip

J. D. Sample                          (501) 698-4625
Math-Physics Dept                     sample@lyon.edu
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