NEW THINKING. “The above considerations strongly suggest that there are no definite criteria by which we can unequivocally classify a particular microbe as a pathogen.” https://lnkd.in/dE_ZD9q View in LinkedIn
GLOBAL BATTERY. “Electric currents flow continuously throughout much of the atmosphere because of the global atmospheric electric circuit, and these currents sometimes pass through clouds.” http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2013/mar/06/atmospheric-electricity-affects-cloud-height View in LinkedIn
COSMIC WEATHER. “For decades, scientists have argued over whether there is a link between cosmic rays and cloud cover, which in turn could affect climate. Now two atmospheric physicists in the UK have discovered that global atmospheric electricity – which itself is altered by cosmic rays, space weather and El Niño – affects the base height of certain types of clouds.” https://lnkd.in/dVCdgFH View in LinkedIn
HIGH ENERGY PARTICLES. “There are three principal sources of high-energy particles which cause radiolysis: Radon isotopes, cosmic rays and terrestrial gamma radiation. The partitioning between the sources varies vertically. Near the surface, ionisation from turbulent transport of radon and other radioactive isotopes is important, together with gamma radiation from isotopes below the surface. Ionisation from cosmic rays is always present, comprising about 20% of the ionisation at the surface.” https://lnkd.in/dmetfSb View in LinkedIn
“ION-PAIRS are continually produced in the atmosphere by radiolysis of air molecules. The ions produced are rarely single species but clusters of water molecules around a central ion. Typical atmospheric ion concentrations in unpolluted air and fine weather are about 500 ions.cm(-3).” https://lnkd.in/dmetfSb View in LinkedIn
ELECTRON FLUX. “As the collisions and freezing continue to occur and the charges at the top and bottom of the cloud increase, the electric field becomes more and more intense -- so intense, in fact, that the electrons at the earth's surface are repelled deeper into the earth by the strong negative charge at the lower portion of the cloud. This repulsion of electrons causes the earth's surface to acquire a strong positive charge. All that is needed now is a conductive path for the negative cloud bottom to contact the positive earth surface. The strong electric field, being somewhat self-sufficient, creates this path.” http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/lightning1.htm View in LinkedIn
GIANT CHARGE SEPARATION. “Combining the collisions with the freezing, we can begin to understand how a cloud may acquire the extreme charge separation that is required for a lightning strike. When there is a charge separation in a cloud, there is also an electric field that is associated with the separation. Like the cloud, this field is negative in the lower region and positive in the upper region. The strength or intensity of the electric field is directly related to the amount of charge buildup in the cloud.” http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/lightning1.htm View in LinkedIn
COLLISIONS AND ICE. “The newly knocked-off electrons gather at the lower portion of the cloud, giving it a negative charge. The rising moisture that has just lost an electron carries a positive charge to the top of the cloud. Beyond the collisions, freezing plays an important role. As the rising moisture encounters colder temperatures in the upper cloud regions and begins to freeze, the frozen portion becomes negatively charged and the unfrozen droplets become positively charged.” http://science.howstuffworks.com/nature/natural-disasters/lightning1.htm View in LinkedIn
MAKING THE CHARGE ANVIL. “Clouds can contain millions upon millions of water droplets and ice suspended in the air. As the process of evaporation and condensation continues, these droplets collide other moisture that is in the process of condensing as it rises. The importance of these collisions is that electrons are knocked off of the rising moisture, thus creating a charge separation.” https://lnkd.in/d-F83QF View in LinkedIn
