Using the Earth as a battery

Since the earth stores billions of electrons, is there any way the earth could be used as a usable battery? I guess its not a good conductor but has any method been devised to make it a good conductor?

What about the ionosphere. Lots of charged particles there. If there was some way to tap into the ionosphere, would that mean free flow of electricity to the earth?

Just thinking out loud.

The vehemence of my response is scaled to the stooopidity of your proposal.

Don't you have the slightest inkling of a hint that anything "obvious" to an untutored layman has already been visited and discarded by untold numbers of trained (and desperate - untenured faculty) minds?

I'm sure there are many. But I'm talking about free electons. As in electrons not bound to atoms. When lightning discharges to ground, where do all the electrons go.

Does not the earth carry a charge of some sort, why can't we use this charge?

I understand free electrons do not remain free for long. But does it mean there are no electrons free in the earth.

In one of Tesla's experiments, he was trying to transmit electicity through the earth by simulating a lightning strike. Or so i understand. I know he didn't succeed (or did he?)

Now if the earth neutralises charges so well/quickly, was that experiment doomed to failure from the start.

Hi peter,

The US has a project called HAARP which charges up the ionosphere to study it for communication & defence applications. If they find ways of overcoming the insulative properties of the ionosphere and discharging it, perhaps it might be a mass source of power.

Sadly I don't know enough to comment on how that might be possible.

Well this is my last post on the subject. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding some basic physics theory.

Free electrons come from chemical/physical reactions where an electron is removed from orbit of an atom. Not sure if that is what you are getting at.

When I rub my shoe on a rug, the shoe can pick up static electricity. Enough to give me a shock if I touch a positively charged object. How is it possible that tectonic plates of the earth rubbing together so vigoursly causing an earth quake can release no electrons. Is there no chemical or physical reaction in the earth generating surplus electrons.

Maybe I'm too dense for this branch of physics :-(

Thanks for your replies. I'll read up more on Tesla.

No one cares what you look like Uncle Al. However! Thanks for waxing your legs before snapping that shot of yourself.

You are thinking of electrons themselves as possessing energy, when in fact they do not (ignoring, for a moment, the energy represented by their mass). They possess CHARGE, but charge is not energy. There is a potential energy (which is represented by the electric field) that "comes into being" when two charged particles of opposite sign are removed from each other's presence (i.e., it takes energy to do this, and that energy is "stored" in the form of the field between the charged particles), or conversely when two particles of the same sign charge are forced together.

The mechanical analog to this is the potential energy represented by a mass which has been raised to some distance above its original position; there is potential energy due to the attractive force of gravity, which can then be recovered if the object is permitted to fall. But this does not mean that the object itself originally "contained energy" (again ignoring the energy represent by its mass, courtesy of St. Albert).

Bob M.

Teenager, eh? Globally bathetic.

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Are you sure that's really a good idea?

"Thus, it seems that what really happened was that Tesla sent off that fireball or EMP burst, which collided with that alien intelligence survey spacecraft!"

"....They had discovered why Tesla was reluctant to put the magnifying transmitter into operation. Not only could it be used to mess up radio communication, but also as a global magnetic mind control weapon, and to control the forces of nature. And the Russians were using it...."

"in addition, intelligent ufo activity was also being reported in indonesia. this is not very surprising since both god's angels and satan's angels would have a great interest in monitoring the scalar tesla hyperdimensional technology progress of the us military."

How many electrons do you think there are in a grain of sand? What's your definition of battery?

The Earth is electrically neutral.... remove electrons from atom (as in a thunder cloud) and they jump back (as in lightning). The energy to drive thunderstorms come from the sun.

You should ask yourself where do free electrons come from?

You should do a search and find out what Tesla was doing.

Hello, The system earth-ionosphere is not a battery but rather like a condenser. The electrical field strength is in normal times approximately 100 to 150 V/m. Thats great, would you say. Alas, the dielectric is to performing, too good an insulator, and all you can expect is a columnal current of about

I admit, Iwas a bit puzzled by this abusively rude answer, seemingly to my response. Could you couple yourself in the future to the message you are commenting this vehemently? Still better, moderate your excessive prose! peter

Actually you've got it right.... the point is that atoms are neutral unless some process that requires an energy sources removes electrons as in your example of shoe on a rug or in a billowing thunder cloud. And you are right... it happens all around us...

Hindian--I don't want to discourage you. You started the thread wanting to know if the Earth's free elections could be used as an energy source. And I want to impart to you that.

1. there is no net imbalance of charge on the earth
2. that energy sources on the earth ultimately derive from the sun (with the exception of some heat from radioactivity inside the earth)
3. the Conservation of Energy
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4. the Laws of Thermodynamics
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HAARP is a scientific endeavor aimed at studying the properties and behavior of the ionosphere, with particular emphasis on being able to understand and use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes.

HAARP does *not* in any way *charge* up the ionosphere!

The energy source that ionizes the upper atmosphere is our sun.

Good point!

there

The magnetic field around earth can and has been used to produce electricity by tethers. A HUGE amount can be produced... the drawback is that it saps the kinetic energy of the vehicle you're producing electricity for. So it's a trade off.

Dave