science

14791 readers

397 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

rule #1: be kind

<--- rules currently under construction, see current pinned post.

2024-11-11

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

130

NASA discovers Earth's electrical field at last after 60-year search (www.space.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A long-sought invisible force wrapped around Earth has been detected more than half a century after it was first hypothesized.

The field, dubbed the "polar wind," explains how Earth's atmosphere escapes easily and rapidly above the north and south poles, and may have played a role in shaping our planet's thin upper atmosphere.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

I think it means the electric field created within Earth's atmosphere that is responsible for lightning as opposed to the (electro)magnetic field which forms the magnetosphere around Earth and makes compasses work.