A NEW PARADIGM OF SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT - THE ELECTRIC UNIVERSE

   Article 5 : Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star; How I Wonder What You Are.

   - by Rev Nicholas Sykes

   David Talbott points out that the Ancients spoke of the thunderbolt
   ruling the universe. When we transpose their conceptual language into
   our own, the Ancients seem to have got it right. Electric Universe
   theorists maintain that it is the transportation of electrical energy
   that the plasma facilitates that makes the stars shine, including our
   Sun, and produces all the electromagnetic radiation found in nature.
   The "solar wind" (so-called), the galactic currents and the
   inter-galactic electric circuits all play their part in maintaining
   the existence of the universe and in maintaining human existence.
   These electrical power systems form connected parts of the great
   plasma engine that rules and empowers our universe.

   The above statements are in conflict with most of today's accepted
   astronomy/cosmology theories, which operate on the premise that
   electric fields, currents and plasma discharges are not important
   mechanisms in space. Until recently, only gravitational fields were
   asserted to be important, but more recently the importance of magnetic
   fields has been admitted. Even so, such a premise is becoming
   increasingly difficult to maintain with any honesty, on two accounts:
   (1) that it is generally known that magnetic fields of all sorts are
   caused by electric currents, and (2) that in the era of the space age,
   it becomes increasingly difficult to avoid the natural conclusion of
   many observations clearly showing the universe to be highly electrical
   in nature. Furthermore, since we observe in everyday life that
   electrical forces are vastly stronger than gravitational forces, how
   long can it be maintained in all seriousness that for driving the
   universe the stronger force is to be ignored while the much weaker
   (gravitational) force is to be asserted?

   EU Theory does not postulate where, when or how such a vast electrical
   power transportation might have come into being. EU Theory is
   concerned very much with producing tangible evidence that the things
   about which it speaks are indeed true and verifiable. Dr. Donald
   Scott, for instance, produces convincing calculations showing that the
   collection of electrons from the space around the sun can be enough to
   produce the Sun's output of radiation, given the observed features
   such as the electrical potentials and the temperatures of the various
   spheres - photosphere, chromosphere, corona and heliosphere etc. - by
   which the Sun is characterised. In the EU model of the sun, the Sun's
   photosphere acts as an anode and will continue to do so for as long as
   it maintains a sufficiently positive potential difference to the
   plasma of the heliosphere from which it collects negative particles
   (electrons) and to which it discharges positive ions. The magnetic
   field-aligned currents called Birkeland currents that sustain this
   positive potential are generated by the great plasma engine of the
   Universe, the Sun is empowered from outside itself, as are the stars
   in general, and as Dr. Scott points out, there is no telling when or
   for how long the Sun or any other particular star will be sustained.
   There is considerable evidence coming to light about the variability
   of star sustenance and output, but thankfully there is a verifiable
   mechanism that greatly stabilises our Sun's light output in spite of
   its varying electrical environment.

   The plasma state is characterised by matter in a subatomic form, be
   this form positive ions or electrons or both. The particle inhabitants
   of the plasma state exist therefore in a state of lower organisation
   than their counterparts in the three other states. The higher
   organisation makes for greater stability, but the electrical nature of
   the energy transfers across lengths (as in fluorescent lights) or
   expanses (as in space) of plasma requires a medium of charged but
   moveable particles.

   It was demonstrated to me and many others as schoolchildren that

   1) Plasma through which a low current density passes operates in "dark
   current mode" - you cannot see any glow, but radio waves can be
   radiated.

   2) When the current density is increased, a point is reached at which
   the potential difference, up to this point increasing between the
   electrodes connecting to the plasma, suddenly drops and the plasma
   starts to glow. An example of this is the fluorescent lamp, which
   needs some sort of "starter" to get it going. This mode is called the
   "normal glow mode".

   There is a third mode of plasma operation called the "arc mode", which
   cannot be demonstrated with the same sort of equipment, which would be
   destroyed if the current density were increased further. Nevertheless
   it is demonstrated by generating an electrical spark between two metal
   spheres, or by the electric welding arc. Again it is well-known to be
   necessary to begin the spark with a relatively high voltage
   difference, which drops when the discharge is operating. In these
   cases the air between the electrodes breaks down to become a
   conductive plasma.

   Armed with the familiar knowledge of these three modes in which plasma
   operates electrically, it is possible to make much better sense not
   only of our own Sun but of an abundance of cosmological observations.
   Stephen Smith relates, for instance, that according to a recent press
   release, astronomers using the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
   (WISE) have located a star (Zeta Ophiuchi) whose "...powerful winds
   push gas and dust out of its way and into what is called a bow shock."
   It is conventionally assumed that the star's velocity compresses gas
   and dust in front of it as it flies through space because its "stellar
   wind" shoves gas and dust out of the way. The so-called "bow shock" is
   said to heat up the inter-stellar medium (ISM) until it glows in the
   infrared frequencies WISE can see.

   However, Smith points out that instead of treating the ISM like an
   inert medium, the Electric Universe model sees it as a magnetic,
   electrically charged material that is affected by the plasma sheaths
   around stars. Stellar plasma and the ISM are different plasmas, so
   they develop Langmuir plasma sheaths, or "double layers," between
   them. The photospheres of stars are where galactic electric (anode)
   discharges are focused, and the double boundary layers form the
   corresponding "virtual cathodes."

   With thanks for feedback from Scott Wall
   Langmuir Plasma Sheath of the star Zeta Ophiuchi