Does the Earth Have a Net Electric Charge, and Can That Be Tapped?

[IotaYodi]

http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf054/sf054g13.htm

http://www.electricuniverse.info/Electricity_throughout_the_Universe#Telluric_currents_.28Subterranean_electricity.29

[Pirate88179]

Thanks for your replies Infringer, KS86, and Bill.

One of the reasons I was never too interested in the earth battery was because I assumed it was a simple galvanic reaction going on. Nothing special in my mind. If you need two different metals then one is being consumed and will need to be replaced down the line; but your results, Bill,  with using two copper pipes sounds interesting. If you are using the same metals then something else is going on.

I will pull up the cords and re-dig the holes. This time burying copper pipe pieces to act as the electrodes. Thanks for the info Bill.

Also, Bill, did you ever try different depths between the two electrodes with your experiments? This would fall right in line with what I am thinking of doing with this experiment.

Thanks for your interest everyone,

RR2

Yes.  Buried in the JT topic is some information on work done by the Russians in this area.  As it turns out, you need (according to the researchers) to have your electrodes aligned on the meridian north/south (not magnetic) and the north electrode needs to be deeper to form an angle that matches the magnetic dip angle for your area along the bottom of the electrodes.  Obviously, this has to be recalculated as you increase the distance between them or decrease it.

If I can find the link to the site that shows these numbers for a specific area, i will add it here.  Understand, when using the same metals, the readings are not good but they are there which told me that there is some energy there without galvanic action.  Stubblefield always said that his coils would last for many years when buried in the ground and if it were pure galvanic, one of his metals should have degraded.  It makes for interesting experimenting.

Bill



http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/geomagmodels/IGRFWMM.jsp

[ResinRat2]

Thanks Bill,

My wires are aligned North-South (not magnetic) and the northernmost electrode is the deeper hole. This was by pure luck, not intelligence on my part.

Thanks very much for the info.

RR2

[Pirate88179]

RR2:

That was just good planing not luck, ha ha.  I also remember reading that it may take a little time for the ground to return to "normal" around the electrodes and they did, in my case, put out better as time went on.

I can't remember if it was mentioned here or not but it was discussed in the EB topic area, national radio show host Art Bell (Coast to Coast show) who is an avid HAM operator told about his then new antenna array he had installed out in his Nevada home property.  He described a series of metal poles placed in the ground and standing some distance into the air, I can't recall how high...10-15 feet maybe?  His antenna wire ran along these poles and he described many, many of these poles and bragged that his was the largest array of its kind for HAM operation...well...when his electrician hooked it up to Art's radios....BOOM!  It blew one of them up.  The guy checked the wires from the antenna and there was over 250 volts on the antenna line!!!  This was, of course, a problem for Art but maybe a good accidental discovery?  He never said the power levels but that is still a lot of voltage anyway....for free.  Must have had some power as it burned up his equipment.  He had to use all sorts of black boxes to get rid of this energy before the line went into his radios.

Bill