 Fishing for atmospheric electricity
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Sulaiman
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Registered Member #162
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3141
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What is the purpose of the Am ?
Were you measuring the voltage caused by the Am emitting alpha particles, (dV=dQ/C)
or the natural atmospheric voltage gradient ?
I guess that wind/air movement could also contribute to charge transfer hence voltage changes ?
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Russ Edmonds
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Registered Member #46264
Joined: Sun May 11 2014, 05:27PM
Location: Tucson, Arizona USA
Posts: 61
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The pie tin is being used as a voltage probe for the fair weather electric field. The ionization caused by the Am-241 speeds up the probe reaching the same potential as the air around it. The fair weather electric field is generally positive pointing down towards the Earth. Conductive objects at ground potential exposed to this field actually have a net negative charge on their surface to counteract this field. The pie tin is initially at ground potential and so has a net negative charge. Positive air ions are attracted toward the pie tin and start to neutralize its negative charge. This process continues until the pie tin reaches the same local potential as the air around it at which point no net charge is being exchanged.
Air movement can effect the local potential for example if the air contains charged dust or water droplets.
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