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The discharging current in the atmospher...

The discharging current in the atmosphere due to the small conductivity of air is known to be 1800 A on an average over the globe . Why then does the atmosphere not discharge it self completely in due course and becomed electrically neutral ? In other words, what keeps the atmosphere charged?

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The lightning and thunderstorms at different places all over the planet continuously charge the atmosphere. The atmosphere gets discharged in the regions having ordinary temperature. Due to these two opposing processes the charge on the system remains balanced.
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Answer the following: (a) The top of the atmosphere is at about 400 kV with respect to the surface of the earth, corresponding to an electric field that decreases with altitude. Near the surface of the earth, the field is about 100 Vm^(-1) . Why then do we not get an electric shock as we step out of our house into the open? (Assume the house to be a steel cage so there is no field inside!) (b) A man fixes outside his house one evening a two metre high insulating slab carrying on its top a large aluminium sheet of area 1m^(2) . Will he get an electric shock if he touches the metal sheet next morning? (c) The discharging current in the atmosphere due to the small conductivity of air is known to be 1800 A on an average over the globe. Why then does the atmosphere not discharge itself completely in due course and become electrically neutral? In other words, what keeps the atmosphere charged? (d) What are the forms of energy into which the electrical energy of the atmosphere is dissipated during a lightning? (Hint: The earth has an electric field of about 100 Vm^(-1) at its surface in the downward direction, corresponding to a surface charge density = 10^(-9)C m^(-2) . Due to the slight conductivity of the atmosphere up to about 50 km (beyond which it is good conductor), about + 1800 C is pumped every second into the earth as a whole. The earth, however, does not get discharged since thunderstorms and lightning occurring continually all over the globe pump an equal amount of negative charge on the earth.)

The discharging current in the atmosphere due to the small conductivity of air is known to be 1800 A on an average over the globe. Then why does the atmosphere not discharge itself completely in due course and become electrically neutral? In other words, what keeps the atmosphere charged?

The earth's surface has a negative surface charge density of 10^(-9) Cm^(-2) . The potential difference of 400 kV between the top of the atmosphere and the surface results (due to low conductivity of the lower atmosphere) in a current of only 1800 A over the entire globe. If there were no mechanism of sustaining atmosphereic electric field , how much time (roughly) would be required to neutralise the earth's surface ? (This never happens in practice because there is a mechanism to replenish electric charges namely the continual thunder storms and lightning in different parts of the globe). Radius of the earth = 6.37 xx 10^(6) m .

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