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A Beginner's View of Our Electric Universe - New

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When meteoroids become meteors as they enter Earth’s atmosphere, they encounter ionised molecules <strong>of</strong> gas<br />

in the upper atmosphere that interact electrically and mechanically (kinetically) through friction to slow their<br />

small mass down and produce the spectacular displays we <strong>of</strong>ten see. Meteors are also what we call shooting or<br />

falling stars because we actually see their burn-up process taking place. If a particular meteor is large enough,<br />

part <strong>of</strong> it may survive this tortuous journey to strike the ground as a meteorite; these <strong>of</strong>ten having a black,<br />

electrically burnt appearance [6-55] .<br />

Craters and Surface Scarring: In terms <strong>of</strong> the craters we see on the surfaces <strong>of</strong> almost all solid bodies in the<br />

solar system, modern man has never observed any <strong>of</strong> these actually being produced. As was mentioned earlier in<br />

chapter three, the presumption that has evolved into accepted fact is that nearly all craters are formed by kinetic<br />

energy released when high-speed solid projectiles strike the surfaces <strong>of</strong> larger solid objects. Other theories too<br />

are accepted that explain the phenomenon <strong>of</strong> cratering, a couple <strong>of</strong> these being volcanic type eruptions and<br />

surface crust collapses. If any <strong>of</strong> these theories are valid, especially the impact theory, then is it not strange that<br />

nearly all the craters we see are round in shape? Should we not expect them to have other shapes as well, both<br />

regular and irregular, especially an elongated elliptical form that would surely result from projectiles striking<br />

surfaces at shallow angles? It seems no matter how hard one looks, irregular craters are very rare indeed and the<br />

circular variety seem to abound. In my view, it is wrong for astro-scientists to claim that nearly all craters have<br />

been formed through the impact theory. However, it is not wrong <strong>of</strong> them to claim that this process could indeed<br />

be one <strong>of</strong> the causes, albeit a minor one. The truth as I see it is that electric discharge between bodies is the far<br />

more likely cause <strong>of</strong> cratering. We will return shortly to this and other reasons to question impact theory.<br />

The power delivered through plasma discharges that produce blemishes and features on the surfaces <strong>of</strong> bodies in<br />

space is a really scary level <strong>of</strong> power and a phenomenon not obvious to us today. We know that individual bodies<br />

in space can have a significant level <strong>of</strong> electric charge associated with them, so think again <strong>of</strong> when two bodies<br />

with vastly different charge levels come relatively<br />

close to one another within the conducting medium <strong>of</strong><br />

space. Here the same situation exists as when a comet<br />

approaches the Sun and its surface erupts electrically<br />

to cast <strong>of</strong>f material into space. Consider this process<br />

on the much larger scale where Jupiter and its moon<br />

Io are very close to one another. This is where we have<br />

observed what looks like erupting volcanoes on Io’s<br />

surface. The similarity with comets is obvious [6-56] .<br />

Jupiter’s moon Io and the ‘erupting’ volcano Loki<br />

Credit: NASA JPL USGS<br />

137 | The <strong>Electric</strong> <strong>Universe</strong> answers I see

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