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Something is producing bright flashes of gamma radiation in the upper atmosphere of our own planet
We live in an electric universe. Space is filled with plasma, the fourth state of matter. Plasma consists of hot ionized atoms and is influenced by magnetic fields. Plasma also conducts electrical current. Such current flow creates magnetic fields which affect the structure of the plasma. The energy states and resulting structure are so complex that scientists are not able to adequately model plasma phenomena mathematically. However, we have a great deal of empirical knowledge of plasmas since they have been used in industry for over a hundred years. Arc lamps and arc welding processes create plasmas. The familiar red glow inside the glass tube of a neon light is actually a plasma at work.
Is the sun actually a ball of lightning?
Problems with the current model of the sun as continuous fusion reaction, releasing energy from the core:
* Missing neutrinos
* Temperature of the halo-like corona is 300 times that of surface
* Rotates faster at equator, faster on surface
* Solar wind accelerates upon leaving the Sun
* Sunspots reveal cooler interior
* Sunspots travel faster than surrounding surface
* Sunspot penumbra (interior walls) reveal structured filaments
Lightning is a dense stream of luminous plasma, a powerful electric discharge. But where does the energy in the form of electric charge come from? New low-light photographs of the upper atmosphere (lower right photo*) show that less-dense forms of plasma discharge occur as high as 70 km above the surface at the same time as the lightning. Planet Earth appears to be exchanging electric charge with surrounding space which is filled with solar plasma. Other glow discharge phenomena have been detected between the ionosphere and the center of a hurricane. Atmospheric storms may be driven by energy from the larger environment through which Earth travels. *These high altitude discharge patterns are known as Blue Jets, Red Sprites, and Elves. From Discovery magazine, 1997.
Plasmas do not behave like a gas. They develop structure when a charge gradient produces the movement of electric current. The current flow and resultant magnetic fields cause the plasma to form filaments that twist together into ropes. As long as the current continues, the structure remains intact.
Originally posted by LeoVirgo
We live in an electric universe. Space is filled with plasma, the fourth state of matter.
[edit on 30-1-2010 by LeoVirgo]
Birkeland was the good guy in a 50-year dispute involving the idea that electrons streaming along magnetic field lines caused the Earth's auroras. His opponent was the astronomer Sydney Chapman who maintained that the Earth moved through a vacuum. In 1974 space probes found in Birkeland's favour. Chapman and others then promptly made space plasma superconducting, which relieved them from the complications of dealing with electric fields. Birkeland actually demonstrated his theory long before in an experiment called a "terrella." It consisted of an electromagnet contained within a sphere and placed in a large vacuum chamber. By initiating an electric discharge in the chamber he was able to reproduce a light show with many of the odd features of auroras. The importance of this simple experiment cannot be overstated because it demonstrates that aurorae and lightning seem to require an electrical power source external to the Earth! That would explain the puzzle raised by Bering: "The charge that produces sprites is not below in the cloud, it's in the mesosphere itself."
The Electric Universe model suggests that the Earth plays a cathode role in the Sun's discharge and therefore is in the business of supplying negative electrons to space and receiving positive ions from the solar wind. It is interesting therefore that the presence of solar wind ions inside the earth's magnetosphere has puzzled scientists. Thunderstorms are not electricity generators, they are passive elements in an interplanetary circuit, like a self-repairing leaky condenser. The energy stored in the cloud "condenser" is released as lightning when it short-circuits. The short-circuits can occur either within the cloud or across the external resistive paths to Earth or the ionosphere. The charge across the cloud "condenser" gives rise to violent vertical electrical winds within the cloud, not vice versa. By creating a short-circuit to high altitudes in the storm the lightning effectively "throws the switch" connected to the glow discharge "tube" in the upper atmosphere. It then makes perfect sense that the much taller positive cloud-to-ground discharge will be more effective at providing power to the glow discharge than will low-level negative cloud-to-ground lightning because the circuit resistance is lower. Ultimately, lightning on Earth is driven by electric power focused on the Sun but minutely intercepted by the Earth. So lightning on Earth is a pale imitation of what is happening on the Sun. It is not surprising, therefore, that it took a man who was an electrical researcher, astronomer, and expert on the effects of lightning, Dr. Charles E. R. Bruce of the Electrical Research Association in England, to recognize the fact. That was in 1941! Such is the inertia of science.
Outer space (often simply called space) is the void that exists beyond any celestial body including the Earth.[1] It is not completely empty (i.e. a perfect vacuum), but contains a low density of particles, predominantly hydrogen plasma, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos. Theoretically, it also contains dark matter and dark energy.