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

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Edit: ELECTRICAL field sorry

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

99% chance I'm being an idiot here, but, compass?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Magnetic field ≠ electric field

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Fucking magnets, how do they work?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Miracles!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Pure gumption

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

NASA link: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasa-discovers-long-sought-global-electric-field-on-earth/