The Origin of Atmospheric Electricity

The phenomena of atmospheric electricity are caused by an effect common to nearly all interfaces. Specifically, it has recently been shown by this author1,2 that the first and second laws of thermodynamics require the electrification of almost all surfaces, membranes and other interfaces. To be shown are pictures of corroborating experimental results that reveal the existence of significant electric charges on water surface. Thus, many atmospheric phenomena can be explained quantitatively and qualitatively, such as: phase-change electricity, atmospheric electric discharges, the suspension of fog and of the clouds, and Lorentz, Coulomb, and other forces that govern the behavior of tornadoes. The theoretical procedure that has led to those novel, theoretical conclusions involves generalizing Einstein's thermodynamic theory of the Brownian motion.3 Specifically, in 1905-06 Einstein postulated that particles dissolved in a liquid, if dilute enough, would have an osmotic pressure given by Boyle's law. But in 1860, Maxwell derived Boyle's law of ideal gases by calculating the time-rate of change of the particle thermal momentum per unit area. In effect, Einstein has accounted in his thermodynamic treatment for the time-rate of change of the particle thermal momentum, per unit area, which gives rise to the internal pressure of the dissolved particles. From the internal pressure, Einstein calculated a mechanical diffusion force for those particles, which is consistent with Maxwell's diffusion force, calculated for an ideal gas diffusing in another. Recently, it has been shown by this author1 that the principle of detailed balancing, which evolved in the first quarter of the twentieth Century, and which characterizes the state of thermal equilibrium in its most general form, requires the exclusive use of the internal, rather than the external, measurable pressure, not just in the cases treated by Einstein, but also for all other thermodynamic systems. Generally, the internal pressure reflects the time rate of change, per unit area, of the particle thermal momentum, associated with whichever exists of the translational, rotational, and vibrational motion that may prevail in any one of the three phases of matter. This step has led to the thermodynamic generalization of the Maxwell-Einstein diffusion force, which turns out to be highly significant at nearly all interfaces. Studying the properties of this and other forces at interfaces has made it possible to calculate, by a new method, the entropy change, s, per particle, across any interface, at equilibrium, in terms of the diffusion and other forces residing at that interface. But s can be calculated by a classical method that is independent of forces. Equating the two values of s leads to an important conclusion: provided that certain thermodynamic parameters are different across an interface, there has to exist at such sites forces involving action-at-a-distance and other properties uniquely characteristic of electricity.

1. M.A. Melehy, Physics Essays, 10, 287-303, No. 2 (1997). 2. Ibid,"Physics Essays, 11, 430-443, No. 3 (1998). 3. A. Einstein, "Investigations on the Theory of the Brownian Movement," pp 1-18, 68-85, edited by R. Fuerth and A.D. Cowper (Dover Publications, 1956).