electricgravity1 wrote:
" attacks the characteristics or authority of the writer without addressing the substance of the argument "
Congrats on getting to rank 6 on the pyramid of reason. You're one off the bottom so you've made a start. But can you get any higher?
- the earth's surface is negatively charged
Is it?
The lower part of a thundercloud is usually negatively charged. The upward area is usually positively charged. Lightning from the negatively charged area of the cloud generally carries a negative charge to Earth and is called a negative flash. A discharge from a positively-charged area to Earth produces a positive flash.
NASA source
Also, the evidence of a lightning current of 1 amp. flowing continuously says, no.
The Global Electric Circuit
During fair weather, a potential difference of 200,000 to 500,000 Volts exists between the Earth's surface and the ionosphere, with a fair weather current of about 2x10-12 amperes/meter2. It is widely believed that this potential difference is due to the world-wide distribution of thunderstorms.
Present measurements indicate that an average of almost 1 ampere of current flows into the stratosphere during the active phase of a typical thunderstorm. Therefore, to maintain the fair weather global electric current flowing to the surface, one to two thousand thunderstorms must be active at any given time. While present theory suggests that thunderstorms are responsible for the ionospheric potential and atmospheric current for fair weather, the details are not fully understood.
source
Oooh, quotes and everything. Do I get a gold star, now?