DESTROY THE WORLD WITH A LONG PIECE OF WIRE     (c)1997 William J. Beaty

So raindrops form by collision rather than condensation, with larger cloud
droplets touching and "eating" small ones in their paths.  But I also hear
that without the electrical attraction providec by sky/ground e-fields,
droplets will bounce off each other rather than melding together.  Cloud
droplets will grow a little, but won't make the jump to raindrops.  Rain
cannot exist without the earth's vertical e-field.

But rain within thunderstorms acts to sort the dense cloud droplets from
the warm air, which allows it to rise violently, and so is a major cause
of thunderstorm vertical circulation.  So to some extent, rain drives
thunderstorms, and if raindrops didn't form, the updrafts would be
eliminated or greatly reduced.

Thunderstorms pump charge between earth and ionosphere and keep the
sky/ground potential maintained.  But the thunderstorm charge-pump is
thought to rely on the pre-existing vertical e-field between earth and the
ionosphere, analogous to a shunt-wound generator whose output powers its
own field coil.  Stop the generator, lose the self-maintaining bootstrap
effect, and it doesn't reappear when the generator is restarted. 

So, if the earth/ionosphere potential were removed, it would interfere
with thunderstorm charge flow, and the potential would not build up again
quickly.  Also, it would interfere with droplet accretion, and rain would
halt worldwide.  Suppression of rain might act to suppress the physical
operation of thunderstorms while suppression of sky/ground voltage would
suppress their electrical action. 

My question:  if one were to entirely short out the earth/ionosphere
potential, how long would it take for things to right themselves?  For
example if I build a really big UV laser, aim it upwards, and trigger an
earth/ionosphere lightning strike, will I suppress all rainfall and wreck
the worldwide environment for weeks?  Decades?  Permanently?  Is this
something that could be estimated, or will I have to try it and see? 

Since a laser is a big project, a simple piece of wire would be
preferable.  How about a 50-mile long carbon fiber strand with a ceramic
heatshield at its tip?  If the spool was kicked out of the Shuttle,
allowed to unreel, then reentered tip-first, it should induce a nice big
lightning bolt and discharge the sky/ground capacitor plates.  Zap,
instant worldwide desert.

((((((((((((((((((((( ( (  (   (    (O)    )   )  ) ) )))))))))))))))))))))
William J. Beaty                                  SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billbeskimo.com                                  amasci.com
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits          science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA   206-762-3818          freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L