Re: source of electrons

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

 Experiments Which Show That the Earth Functions As an
 Electrostatic Machine
 ---------------------
 by C. L. Stong
 May, 1957
 ---------------------
   ONE SUNNY MORNING last fall a jolt of electricity knocked Fred Ellis, an
 Ohio radio ham, from the roof of his barn. Fortunately Ellis landed on a
stack
 of straw and lived to tell the tale. "I started to hook a ground wire to a
50-foot
 antenna tower on the roof," he writes, "when a fat spark jumped from the
 metal tower to my hand and knocked me off balance. Although the weather
 was hot and dry there had been no breeze of any consequence for several days.

 Hence the charge could not have been generated by wind friction. How do you
 account for it?" In Minneapolis a steeplejack was badly burned earlier in the

 year when a similar spark jumped from the base of a flagpole and touched off
a
 nearby pile of gasoline-soaked rags. Again the accident occurred on a clear,
 still day. A television viewer on a Pennsylvania farm, plagued for months by
 a strange electrical disturbance which occasionally obscured his picture,
 finally cured the difficulty when he detected small sparks jumping from the
 sheet metal cupola on his house. The trouble was ended by grounding the
 cupola. In all three cases the explanation has to do with the
 sometimes-overlooked fact that the earth is, among other things, the negative

 electrode of a huge electrical generator of the Van de Graaff type. Many
details
 of this natural generator await explanation; if you enjoy electrostatic
 experiments, here is a readymade project and a machine that goes with it.

cut ----

bc

P.s. I suspect that CR are neutral (as many + as -), but the Van Allen may
deflect away more of one than the other -- I suggest a google search.  OTOH
galactic mag. fields may also do some selecting.  Maybe a cosmo. q. of great
importance.

P.p.s A more careful read suggests that I didn't answer the first part of the
2nd q. Sorry.  OTOH further on the article might.


Larry Smith wrote:

cut --

> Second question: is the "earth + atmosphere" system charged?  Do we receive
> more positive or negative particles as cosmic rays?  Seems like I read
> about this but I can't remember the answer.
>
> Thanks,
> Larry