Scientists Discover New Electric Field in Earth’s Atmosphere Crucial for Life

Geologists have discovered a new electric field spread around the Earth. This light electric field present in the Earth’s atmosphere is considered very important to confirm a theory. This electric field is very weak and is only 0.55 volts. With the help of the study of this electric field, the history of the development of the Earth’s atmosphere can be known. It can also be found out how the conditions remain favorable for life here.

The Endurance rocket mission was led by Glynn Collinson, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. This electric field was successfully measured under this mission. It was measured over Svalbard, Norway in May 2022. Collinson called it a planetary energy field. It was still hidden from the eyes of scientists. The existence of this electric field could prove to be a key point in a discovery made decades ago.

Actually, scientists had given the theory of ‘Polar Wind’ a long time ago. When sunlight hits the upper atmosphere of the Earth, it frees negatively charged ions i.e. electrical particles and pushes them towards space. But the heavy, positively charged oxygen ions remain there. To keep the atmosphere electrically neutral, a mild electric field is created here which tries to keep these ions together, and prevents them from escaping into space.

This weak electric field provides energy to the light ions. For example, hydrogen, which becomes free from Earth’s gravity and then contributes to the polar winds. According to David Brain, a planetary scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder, the finding of such an electric field could explain why life is not found on planets like Mars or Venus like Earth. Why are life supporting conditions not created there? This means that the formation of such an electric field on a planet can also be the reason for the flourishing of life.

Even though Mars and Venus have electric fields, due to the absence of any such global magnetic field, the atmosphere there mostly disappears into space, resulting in huge differences in climate. Now NASA is going to carry forward this mission which has been announced by the space agency. NASA has prepared a rocket named Resolute for its follow-up mission which can be launched soon.