2024-09-03 00:44:32
Its existence was already suspected in the 1960s, and now scientists have provided proof: the Earth has a third energy field.
Scientists from the US space agency NASA have discovered a third energy field on Earth. In addition to the magnetic field and the gravitational field, there is also the so-called ambipolar electric field. This weak, earth-wide field could be just as fundamental to the properties of our Earth as the other two fields, the researchers write in the journal “Nature”.
The ambipolar electric field therefore significantly influences the boundary between Earth and space. It is one of the main driving forces of the polar wind – a constant outflow of charged particles into space above the poles.
As early as the 1960s, space probes discovered a stream of particles flowing out of the Earth’s atmosphere into space. For a long time, it was unclear what caused these flows. Glyn Collinson, lead author of the study, explains: “Something had to be pulling these particles out of the atmosphere.” Scientists suspected that a previously undiscovered electric field was the cause.
Collinson and his team began developing new instruments to measure this field almost ten years ago. In 2022, their mission began with a suborbital rocket flight from Antarctica to the Norwegian Svalbard archipelago near the North Pole. “Svalbard is the only rocket base in the world where you can fly through the polar wind and make the measurements we need,” said co-author Suzie Imber.
The researchers found that the electrical potential at the location of the newly discovered energy field changed by 0.55 volts. “Half a volt is almost nothing – it’s just as strong as a watch battery,” explains Collinson. “But that’s exactly the right value to explain the polar wind.”
According to NASA, this field exposes hydrogen ions in the polar wind to a force 10.6 times stronger than gravity. Co-author Alex Glocer says: “This is more than enough to counteract gravity – it is even enough to hurl the particles upwards into space at supersonic speeds.”
The new energy field allows the particles to reach much greater heights than would be possible without the field. Collinson compares it to an assembly line: “It’s like a conveyor belt lifting the atmosphere into space.”