# Electric Sun **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 8, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586 "2006-07-08T02:15:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/81 "2006-07-12T23:51:31Z")
Haven’t there been bolts of lightning observed on Jupiter several times more powerful than any on Earth? If lightning is caused by solar magnetism, wouldn’t Jupiter’s lightning be considerably _less_ powerful, since Jupiter is 5.2 times further from the sun than Earth? Doesn’t this suggest lightning is a locally-generated phenomenon? I’m not even going to bother trying to explain facts to the OP at this stage. It’s easier just to ask about obvious holes in his hypotheses. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/82 "2006-07-13T00:07:08Z")
Back to the questions which I’ld like to to be answered: 1. Is there a mathematics description of the theory? 2. How does the electric sun manage to describe steady state evolution of stars? 3. What keeps stars from collapsing? 4. How, exactly, does a plasma create new elements 4a. In what ratio are these elements created? [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![TheFonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TheFonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFonz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/83 "2006-07-13T00:38:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Haven’t there been bolts of lightning observed on Jupiter several times more powerful than any on Earth? If lightning is caused by solar magnetism, wouldn’t Jupiter’s lightning be considerably less powerful, since Jupiter is 5.2 times further from the sun than Earth? > > Doesn’t this suggest lightning is a locally-generated phenomenon? Remember that the discharges that take place between the Sun and a planet have to reach a certain level before the breakdown occurs and lightning takes place. There are many diferent things that factor into this equation (Yes there is one, but we haven’t figured them out yet. There isn’t exactly a market for these things because the mainstream has a strangelhold on astronomy, so the Electric Universe isn’t putting bread on the table at the moment). But what happens is that the dark energy slowly builds up in the Sun until the breakdown voltage with Jupiter is finally reached. Because Jupiter is much farther away and is a much bigger object when it finally DOES have lightning it is a big ass bolt. Check it out: > [@"\[Astronomy](#): > > ([http://www.astronomytoday.com/astronomy/jupiter.html](http://www.astronomytoday.com/astronomy/jupiter.html))"] Lightning on Jupiter is quite different to that on Earth; striking about ten times less often on Jupiter, Jovian lightning bolts have about ten times more energy than lightning bolts on Earth. Makes sense, right? Do you remember that Jupiter is supposed to be Zeus, the god of thunder and lightning? Oh that’s right that’s silly talk. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/84 "2006-07-13T00:58:32Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] Knowing what we know about [currents and their rotating magnetic fields](http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/magcur.gif), and knowing that there MUST be some connection between gravity and electromagnetism… isn’t is slightly plausible that the driving force behind these storms is electric? [/QUOTE] Any proposed unification between gravity and electromagnetism would occur at energy scales way, way higher than anything generally reached in the universe at present. Again, known physical laws severely constrain the theoretical constructs that one can dream up. That is why it is highly unlikely that any theory that calls for the overturning of vast amounts of knowledge from different fields can be correct. At best, it would need to an extraordinary amount of evidence. ---
**Author:** ![TheFonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TheFonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFonz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/85 "2006-07-13T01:25:03Z")
We accumulate a little bit of that knowledge every day, as demonstrated by how astronomers amazed astronomers are every time they turn over a new rock. They’re amazed by the sunspot penumbra, they were amazed when they discovered galaxies defying their elegant equations for gravity, the list goes on but gets forgotten with time. A little tidbit about lightning on Saturn: > [@"\[Space.com](#): > > ([Cassini Hears Puzzling Lightning at Saturn | Space](http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/cassini_lightning_040805.html))"]Like Voyager before it, the Cassini spacecraft has detected lightning at Saturn, but it doesn’t sound the same and scientists hope the episodic strikes will teach them something. > > The NASA probe recorded the electrical activity on a radio receiver. > > “We are detecting the same crackle and pop one hears when listening to an AM radio broadcast during a thunderstorm,” said Bill Kurth, deputy principal investigator on the radio and plasma wave instrument from the University of Iowa. “These storms are dramatically different than those observed 20 years ago.” > > Voyager noted lightning from an extended storm system at low latitudes. It lasted for months and was much the same from one day to the next. > > Cassini found lightning that is highly episodic. There are large variations in the occurrence of lightning from day to day, sometimes with little or no lightning. There are possibly several short-lived storms at mid-latitudes behind the readings, scientists said Thursday. Then there’s some stuff where they try to say it MAY be the shadows from the rings, mainstream THEORY, then: > [@](#): > > Cassini has made other findings, according to a NASA statement. > > The craft discovered a new radiation belt just above Saturn’s cloud tops, up to the inner edge of the D-ring. The belt extends around the planet. With this discovery, the radiation belts are shown to extend far closer to the planet than previously known. > > “This new radiation belt had eluded detection by any of the spacecraft that previously visited Saturn,” said Donald Mitchell, who works on the magnetospheric imaging instrument out of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. “ **With its discovery we have seen something that we did not expect, that radiation belt particles can ‘hop’ over obstructions like Saturn’s rings, without being absorbed by the rings in the process.** ” Emphasis added. These radiation belts can ‘hop’ over obstructions, without being absorbed by them. This sounds an aweful lot like double layers to me: > [@"\[Electric-cosmos.com](#): > > ([http://www.electric-cosmos.org/electricplasma.htm](http://www.electric-cosmos.org/electricplasma.htm))"]One of the most important properties of any electrical plasma is its ability to “self-organize” - that is, to electrically isolate one section of itself from another. The isolating wall is called a double layer (DL). When a plasma is studied in the lab, it is usually contained in a closed cylindrical glass tube. Electrodes are inserted into the ends of the tube - one electrode (called the anode) is maintained at a higher voltage than the electrode at the other end (the cathode). If such a voltage difference is applied, then ionization will be initiated and current will start to flow through the plasma. Positive ions (atoms with one or more electrons stripped off) will migrate away from the anode, and negative ions (atoms carrying one or more extra electrons) will move toward the anode. The mathematical sum of these two oppositely directed flows constitutes the total current in the plasma. > > If the voltage difference from one electrode to the other becomes large enough, a DL will form in a narrow cross-section somewhere in the middle of the tube. Almost all the voltage drop that is applied across the electrodes will fall across this DL. The plasma on one side of the DL (the side toward the anode) will have approximately the same voltage as the anode. The plasma on the cathode side of the DL will have essentially the same voltage as the cathode. The two halves of the plasma are then electrically isolated from one another by the DL. No electrostatic force is felt by particles on one side of the DL due to charges on the other side of the DL. The total electric current, however, is the same throughout the plasma (on both sides of the DL). Plasmas are excellent conductors and, therefore, there will not be a significant voltage drop across them while they are carrying current - thus the need for the presence of the DL that “takes” most of any externally applied voltage. In other words, the DL is where the strongest electric fields in the plasma will be found. > > **If a foreign object is inserted into a plasma, a DL will form around it, shielding it from the main plasma. This effect makes it difficult to insert voltage sensing probes into a plasma in order to measure the electric potential at a specific location. This is a well known property of plasmas. Various methods have been developed in the laboratory to overcome it.** ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/86 "2006-07-13T01:40:19Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] Not exactly, Crotalus. I’m trying to establish an alternative to the charge separation that allows lightning to occur: electric energy from the Sun. On a macroscopic scale the charge is already separated and doesn’t actually rely on some “rubbing your feet across the carpet” mechanism. The same energy bursts that create auroras on our magnetic poles (and on Saturn and Jupiter’s as well) are also capable of creating elves, sprites and lightning. [/QUOTE] To what do you ascribe the correlation between storms and lightning? The standard model is that lightning is created by electrical effects in the atmosphere, so it makes sense that, say, clouds are involved. Cloud systems can be tracked and storms predicted. Not perfectly, no, but certainly more accurately than a sudden burst of “solar-electric” energy would suggest. What about lightning on the far side of the planet? If lightning is caused by the sun, then you’d expect lightning to be oriented with respect to the sun. But it isn’t. It’s always oriented with respect to the ground and the atmosphere. How does your model explain this? If the power of lightning is actually _magnified_ by distance (because of some energy link being broken), then you’d expect that there would be _much_ less of it, since the total energy is reduced by the inverse square of the distance (you do accept the inverse square law, right?). But Jupiter has both more violent and more frequent storms than Earth. How do you explain that? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/87 "2006-07-13T01:51:30Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] Remember that the discharges that take place between the Sun and a planet have to reach a certain level before the breakdown occurs and lightning takes place. [/quote] Remember it? I’m waiting to see you _prove_ it. So if lightning is triggered by the sun, why and how does lightning sometimes occur at night? ---
**Author:** ![TheFonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TheFonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFonz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/88 "2006-07-13T01:55:52Z")
Hmmmm, would an admission of guilt from NASA suffice? The picture: [http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/i2-22.jpg](http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/i2-22.jpg) > [@"\[hq.nasa.gov](#): > > ([http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/EP-177/ch2-3-2.html](http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/EP-177/ch2-3-2.html))"]The intricate baffling detail of Saturn’s rings are spread out in this computer-enhanced view taken by Voyager 1 at a distance of 8 million kilometers (5 million miles). At least 95 separate rings are clearly shown, far to many to be explained by our current theories of simple gravitational forces between Saturn’s nearby moons and the ring particles. At the upper left, the thin outer F-ring appears as a narrow curved streak beqond the main body of the rings. The tiny dot nearby is a small moon discovered by Voyager 1, one of a pair that seems to act like shepherds, keeping the thin F-rin in place. Even NASA sez, “Gravity can’t explain it…” [QUOTE=more NASA] No theory involving only a few moons can explain the presence of a thousand narrow rings, the elliptical rings, the ring braids, or the spokes. Nor can we yet explain how the delicate rings apparently have survived over the 4.5-billion-year age of the solar system. The problems of the rings are now seen more fully and clearly, and unfortunately, they are more complex. New theories are needed to understand the entire fantastic Saturn system. [/quote] BOOOOOM. Now my turn. How do you explain that, if not through electromagnetics? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/89 "2006-07-13T02:06:38Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] How do you explain that, if not through electromagnetics? [/QUOTE] Why does it have to be electromagnetics? Can you come up with an electromagnetic model that would form the rings, using what is currently known and provable about how electromagnetics works? ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/90 "2006-07-13T02:23:35Z")
Speculation aside about how vast static charges build up on planets inverse to their distance from the source, you still haven’t answered my questions. Shall I put you down for: 1. Is there a mathematical description of the theory? **No** 2. How does the electric sun manage to describe steady state evolution of stars? **I don’t know** 3. What keeps stars from collapsing? **I don’t know** 4. How, exactly, does a plasma create new elements? **I don’t know** 4a. In what ratio are these elements created? **I don’t know** ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/91 "2006-07-13T03:43:09Z")
Hey **Grey** , get in line. I’m waiting for answers to my questions from yesterday… I’m not on **theFonz** ’ side, but asking him to generate predictive models based on the (presumed) high-level mathematical background of the electric-sun hypothesis seems like a non-starter. It’s a bit like demanding that an english major produce a defense of quantum theory. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/92 "2006-07-13T04:01:12Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] I’ve established that measly dust devils have magnetic fields, NASA acknowledges that Martian dust devils (which are bigger than our Earthly tornadoes) have magnetic fields, so following this same train of thought wouldn’t it make sense that our tornadoes and hurricanes have magnetic fields as well? [/QUOTE] So, if we can detect this magnetic fields that are generated by dust devils on Earth, and we can detect the magnetic fields in the much larger (to say nothing of more distant) Martian dust devils, why haven’t we been able to detect these magnetic fields in terrestrial tornados and hurricanes? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/93 "2006-07-13T04:22:39Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] Even NASA sez, “Gravity can’t explain it…” [/QUOTE] It is pretty silly to make a false claim in the very post that you are quoting, trying to distort what was said. The actual statement that you quoted and ignored was > [@](#): > > At least 95 separate rings are clearly shown, far to many to be explained by our current theories of simple gravitational forces between Saturn’s nearby moons and the ring particles. There is no statement, however you might twist it, that says “gravity can’t explain it.” Rather, there is an admission that the early theories of simple gravitational systems involving a relatively few moons, the planet, and the rings do not explain the newly discovered phenomena. On the other hand, while we do not yet have enough information to identify exactly how the rings were formed and are maintained, we have already established that the rings are clearly within the [Roche Limit](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit), a gravitational process that destroys smaller satellites while allowing their debris to remain in orbit. Note that two of the [current theories](http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/saturn/faq.html#how) explicitly rely on gravity and the third one implies gravity. None require any odd “electrical” mechanism. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/94 "2006-07-13T10:58:43Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] Hmmmm, would an admission of guilt from NASA suffice? The picture: [http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/i2-22.jpg](http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/i2-22.jpg) Even NASA sez, “Gravity can’t explain it…” BOOOOOM. Now my turn. How do you explain that, if not through electromagnetics? [/QUOTE] How do you explain it using electromagnetics? The insufficiency of one theory does not prove another theory. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/95 "2006-07-13T12:38:29Z")
[QUOTE=brossa] Hey **Grey** , get in line. I’m waiting for answers to my questions from yesterday… I’m not on **theFonz** ’ side, but asking him to generate predictive models based on the (presumed) high-level mathematical background of the electric-sun hypothesis seems like a non-starter. It’s a bit like demanding that an english major produce a defense of quantum theory. [/QUOTE] Well I’m not asking **TheFonz** to generate anything. I’m asking for the mathematical model the theory supposedly explains. If there isn’t one the OP can direct us to, then this is a waste of time. Back to the questions avoided to date. Turns out when I preface tham with our initials they show up as stellar classes. Spooky. 🙂 B1. How did the sun form with such a massive positive charge that it has glowed for the last several billion years despite the constant influx of galactic electrons? B2. If the solar wind is positive, and accelerated away from the sun by charge repulsion, then the charge repulsion of the sun must be enough to overcome its own gravitational attraction. So what holds the sun together? B3. If a sunspot is just a ‘hole’ or ‘dimple’ in the surface that allows us to see deeper into the sun, why don’t they appear brighter than the surface, like a blackbody radiator? (If you take a metal tube and drill a small hole in the side, then heat the tube to incandescence, the hole actually looks brighter than the solid surface, even though the interior of the tube is at the same temp as the surface.) Is there something in the sun that cools the interior? G1. Is there a mathematical description of the theory? G2. How does the electric sun theory manage to describe steady state evolution of stars? G3. What keeps stars from collapsing? G4. How, exactly, does a plasma create new elements G4a. In what ratio are these elements created? ---
**Author:** ![brossa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brossa/32/3040_2.png) [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/96 "2006-07-13T13:04:27Z")
> [@](#): > > originally posted by **Grey** : > Well I’m not asking TheFonz to generate anything. I’m asking for the mathematical model the theory supposedly explains. If there isn’t one the OP can direct us to, then this is a waste of time. Yeah, I’d settle for a website that has some solid math instead of photographic ‘evidence’, too. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/97 "2006-07-13T13:45:23Z")
Yeah…I think **Grey** ’s point is very important. It is all well-and-good to wave your hands and point at pictures, but at some point, one actually has to do some mathematical calculations. I am not claiming that our OP has to do them himself; however, he does have to at least be able to show where such calculations have been carried out if he wants us to believe that this hand-waving can be translated into an actual model that holds together mathematically. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/98 "2006-07-13T14:29:13Z")
[QUOTE=Crotalus] The insufficiency of one theory does not prove another theory. [/QUOTE] Well, there goes my magnum opus _Einstein Didn’t Have All the Answers So Check Out this New Cosmology Based Almost But Not Quite Entirely on the Results of Hal Linden’s Penultimate Prostate Exam (Complete with Pictures on Imageshack So You Know It’s Proven)._ ---
**Author:** ![TheFonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TheFonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFonz)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/99 "2006-07-13T14:34:06Z")
If the mainstream still hasn’t figured it all out, how do you suppose anyone else had? Once again you’re asking for the impossible. If the mathematics of it all had been worked out there would no longer be any questions, and you all would be thoroughly silenced. As it stands, though, your lack of knowledge in the models you defend allows you to keep talking smack all the while I have to answer each and every little question. Then you forget everything about the last question I answered or even the relevance of it, and you move on to the next thing. > [@](#): > > So if lightning is triggered by the sun, why and how does lightning sometimes occur at night? The energy follows the path of least resistance, which happens to be the water vapor that condensed into clouds during the night time. The energy CAN encircle the globe you know, it’s a plasma… > [@](#): > > How do you explain it using electromagnetics? The insufficiency of one theory does not prove another theory. And the insuffieciency of one theory definitely doesn’t the one theory. > [@](#): > > How did the sun form with such a massive positive charge that it has glowed for the last several billion years despite the constant influx of galactic electrons? The corona is plasma. It is a very good conductor. You know how our magnetic field tends to deflect the solar wind towards our poles? The massive galactic current that feeds our star keeps it positive. Oh I’m sorry, you thought I said electrons were flowing through. No no no, it is the almost impossible to detect ether. This is what keeps the corona at a constant charge. > [@](#): > > What keeps stars from collapsing? What causes a metal bar to expand when it is heated? > [@](#): > > If the solar wind is positive, and accelerated away from the sun by charge repulsion, then the charge repulsion of the sun must be enough to overcome its own gravitational attraction. So what holds the sun together? Whoops, here you go getting the wrong idea again. The charge repulsion is only enough to pull away what is getting accelerated off the surface. The same thing that holds our gas giant planets together is the same thing that holds the Sun together. > [@](#): > > How, exactly, does a plasma create new elements Z-pinching, lots and lots of it. The new elements then rain down into the depths of the star. > [@](#): > > Note that two of the current theories explicitly rely on gravity and the third one implies gravity. None require any odd “electrical” mechanism. Maybe so Tom, but the blue ring of Saturn relies on an extraordinary set of circumstances to explain how the fine particles are made by one of its moons. It’ll be funny to see them try to pull out the same set of extraordinary circumstances to see them try to explain it on Uranus, as well, on TOP of the set of extraordinary circumstances to explain why Uranus’ moons orbit the planet the way they do. One thing to remember: THEY’RE ALL THEORIES. Everything about our solar system seems to be a large number of extraordinary circumstances to allow for all the order of the rings of all the planets. Oh looky [here](http://www.spacetoday.org/SolSys/Sun/SunspotsHurricanes.html), some scientists think sunspots are mssive hurricanes. Magnetic fields, clumping together. Remember all those [long filaments](http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/sun2.jpg) running parallel to the surface with dark stripes down the back that [resemble tornadoes](http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/041015solar-tornado.jpg)? Whadda ya know? They’re [pulling _something_](http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/050617penumbra.jpg) towards the sunspot, dumping it into the sunspot. It would make sense to me that there’s something in the core that’s pulling all these electrons across the surface (making tornadoes parallel to the surface) and dumping them into the sunspot down into the core (making the sunspot one big massive hurricane. > [@](#): > > So, if we can detect this magnetic fields that are generated by dust devils on Earth, and we can detect the magnetic fields in the much larger (to say nothing of more distant) Martian dust devils, why haven’t we been able to detect these magnetic fields in terrestrial tornados and hurricanes? HaHahA, I lied to you. I was waiting to see if you actually knew anything about this, but we DO know tornadoes have magnetic fields. > **[Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=tornado+magnetic+field)** Hurricanes, spawn tornadoes all the time. Big sunspot hurricane, big magnetic field. [http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/hurrspot.gif](http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h56/unaguave/hurrspot.gif) I’d bet the farm on the PREDICTION that hurricanes have magnetic fields. You’re more than welcome to doubt that they do. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586/100 "2006-07-13T14:43:20Z")
[QUOTE=TheFonz] The corona is plasma. It is a very good conductor. You know how our magnetic field tends to deflect the solar wind towards our poles? The massive galactic current that feeds our star keeps it positive. Oh I’m sorry, you thought I said electrons were flowing through. No no no, it is the almost impossible to detect ether. This is what keeps the corona at a constant charge. [/QUOTE] Wait, so there’s this thing that’s really hard to detect, but it makes stars work? How does it interact with stars, yet remain nearly impossible to detect? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electric-sun/363586.md?page=6)