In
this day and age there is no longer any doubt that electrical effects in plasmas play an important role in the
phenomena we observe on the Sun.
The major properties of the
"Electric Sun (ES) model" are as follows:
- Most of the space within our galaxy
is occupied by plasma (rarefied ionized gas) containing electrons (negative charges) and ionized atoms (positive
charges). Every charged particle in the plasma has an electric potential energy (voltage) just as every pebble
on a mountain has a mechanical potential energy with respect to sea level.
The Sun is surrounded by a plasma cell that stretches far out - many
times the radius of Pluto. These are facts not hypotheses.
- The Sun is at a more positive electrical
potential (voltage) than is the space plasma surrounding it - probably in the order of 10 billion volts.
-
Positive ions leave the Sun and electrons enter the Sun. Both of these
flows add
to form a net positive current leaving the
Sun. This constitutes a plasma discharge analogous in every way (except size) to those that have been observed
in electrical plasma laboratories for decades.
Because of the Sun's positive
charge (voltage), it acts as the anode in a plasma discharge. As such, it exhibits many of the phenomena observed
in earthbound plasma experiments, such as
anode
tufting. The granules observed on the
surface of the photosphere are anode tufts (plasma in the arc mode).
-
The Sun may be powered, not from within
itself, but from outside, by the electric (Birkeland) currents that flow in our arm of our galaxy as they do in
all galaxies. This possibility that
the Sun may be exernally powered by its galactic environment is the most
speculative idea in the ES hypothesis and is always attacked by critics
while they ignore all the other explanatory properties of the ES model.
In the Plasma Universe model, these cosmic sized,
low-density currents create the galaxies and the stars within those galaxies
by the electromagnetic z-pinch effect. It is only a small extrapolation to
ask whether these currents remain to
power those stars. Galactic currents are of low current density, but, because the sizes of the stars are large, the total current
(Amperage) is high. The Sun's radiated power at any instant is due to the energy imparted by
that amperage. As the Sun moves around the galactic center it may come
into regions of higher or lower current density and so its output may vary both periodically and randomly.
The Corona
The Sun's corona is visible only
during solar eclipses (or via sophisticated instruments developed for that
specific purpose). It is a vast luminous plasma glow that changes shape with
time - always remaining fairly smooth and distributed in its inner regions,
and showing filamentary spikes and points in its outer fringes. It is a
"normal glow" mode plasma discharge. If the Sun were not electrical in
nature this corona would not exist. If the Sun is simply a (non-electrical)
nuclear furnace, the corona has no business being there at all. So one of the
most basic questions that ought to arise in any discussion of
the Sun is: Why does our Sun have a corona? Why is it there?
It serves no purpose in a fusion-only model nor can such
models explain its existence.
The Solar
Wind
Positive ions stream outward
from the Sun's surface and accelerate away, through the corona, for as far
as we have been able to measure. It is thought that these particles
eventually make up a portion of the cosmic ray flux that permeates the
cosmos. The 'wind' varies with time and has even been observed to stop
completely for a period of a day or two. What causes this fluctuation?
The ES model proposes a simple explanation and suggests a mechanism that
creates fluctuations in this flow. The standard model provides no such
explanation or mechanism.
Electrical Properties of the Photosphere
and Chromosphere
The essence of the Electric Sun hypothesis is an analysis
of the electrical properties of its photosphere and the chromosphere and the resulting effects on the charged particles
that move across them. A radial cross-section taken through a photospheric
'granule' is shown in
the three plots shown, below. The horizontal axis of each of the three plots is distance, measured
radially outward, starting at a point near the bottom of the photosphere (the true surface of the Sun - which we
can only observe in the umbra of sunspots). Almost every observed property of the Sun can be explained through
reference to these three plots; for this reason, much of the discussion that follows makes reference to them.
The first plot shows the energy per unit (positive) charge
of an ion as a function of its radial distance out from the solar surface. The units of Energy per Unit Charge
are Volts, V. The second plot, the E-field, shows the outward radial force (toward the right) experienced
by such a positive ion. The third plot shows the locations of the charge densities that will produce the
first two plots. The chromosphere is the location of a plasma double layer (DL) of electrical charge. Recall
that one of the properties of electric plasma is its excellent (although not perfect) conductivity. Such
an excellent conductor will support only a weak electric field. Notice in the second plot that the almost
ideal plasmas of the photosphere (region b to c) and the corona (from point e outward) are regions of almost zero
electric field strength.
Energy, Electric field strength, and Charge density
as a function of radial distance from the Sun's surface.
All three of these plots are related mathematically. By
the laws of electrophysics: E = - dV/dr, and Charge density = dE/dr. In words: The value of the E-field, at every point
r,
is the (negative of) the slope of the energy plot at that point. (The reason for the negative sign in the first
equation is that the force on a positively charged particle is down the potential hill, not up.) The value of the charge density
at each point, r, is the slope of the E-field plot at that point. The two layers of opposite charge density
necessary to produce the compound shaped energy curve between points c and e used to be called a
'double sheath'.
Modern nomenclature calls it a 'double layer' (DL). It is a well known phenomenon in plasma discharges.
Because of the DL positioned between points c and e, a +ion to the right of point e sees no electrostatic force
from +ions to the left of point c. The 'primary plasma' of the corona and the
'secondary plasma'
of the photosphere are separated by the DL - a well known, and often observed property of plasmas.
The energy plot
shown above is valid for positively charged
particles. Because a positive E-field represents
an outward radial force (toward the right) per unit charge on any such particle, the region wherein the E-field
is negative (a to b) constitutes an inward force. This region of the lower photosphere is, thus, an energy
barrier that positive ions must surmount in order to escape the body of the Sun. Any +ions attempting
to escape outward from within the Sun must have enough energy to get over this energy barrier. So the presence
of the single positive charge layer at the bottom of the tuft plasma serves as a constraint on unlimited escape
of +ions from the surface of the Sun.
Tuft Shrinkage and Movement
In order to visualize the effect this energy diagram has on
electrons (negative charges) coming
in toward the Sun from cosmic space (from the
right), we can turn the energy plot upside down. Doing this enables us to visualize the
'trap'
that these photospheric tufts are for incoming electrons. As the trap fills, the energy gap between b and
c decreases in height, and so the tuft weakens, shrinks, and eventually disappears. This is the cause of
the observed shrinkage and disappearance of photospheric granules.
Temperature Minimum
Charged particles do not experience external electrostatic
forces when they are in the range b to c - within the photosphere. Only random thermal movement
occurs due to diffusion. (Temperature is simply the measurement of the violence of such random movement.)
This is where the 6,000 K temperature is measured. Positive ions have their maximum electrical potential
energy when they are in this photospheric plasma. But their mechanical
kinetic energy is relatively low.
At a point just to the left of point c, any random movement toward the right (radially outward) that carries a
+ ion even slightly to the right of point c will result in it being swept away, down the energy hill, toward the
right. Such movement of charged particles due to an E-field is called a 'drift current'. This drift current
of accelerating positive ions is a constituent of the solar 'wind' (which is a serious misnomer). As
positive ions begin to accelerate down the potential energy drop from point c through e, they convert the high
(electrical) potential energy they had in the photosphere into kinetic energy - they gain extremely high outward
radial velocity and lose side-to-side random motion. Thus, they become
'dethermalized'. In
this region, in the upper photosphere and lower chromosphere, the movement of these ions becomes extremely organized
(parallel).
The Transition Zone
When these rapidly
moving + ions pass point e (leave the
chromosphere) they move beyond the radially directed E-field force that has been accelerating them. Because of their
high kinetic energy (velocity), any collisions they have at this point (with other ions or with neutral atoms)
are violent and create high amplitude random motions, thereby re-thermalizing the plasma to a much
greater degree than it was in the photospheric tufts (in the range b to c). This is what is responsible for the high temperature we observe in the lower corona. Ions just
to the right of point e are reported to be at temperatures of 1 to 2 million K. Nothing else but exactly
this kind of mechanism could be expected from the electric sun (anode tuft - double layer) model. The re-thermalization
takes place in a region analogous to the turbulent 'white water' boiling at the bottom of a smooth laminar
water slide. In the fusion model no such (water slide) phenomenon exists - and so neither does
a simple explanation of the temperature discontinuity.
Acceleration of the Solar
'Wind'
The energy plot (to the right of point e) actually
trails off, with slightly negative slope, toward the negative voltage of deep space (our arm of the Milky Way galaxy).
A relatively low density plasma can support a weak E-field. Consistent with this, a low amplitude (positive) E-field
extends indefinitely to the right from point e. This is the effect of the Sun being at a higher voltage level than
is distant space beyond the heliopause. The outward force on positive ions due to this E-field causes
the observed acceleration of +ions in the solar wind.
Cosmic Rays
The particles in our solar wind eventually join with the spent
solar winds of all the other stars in our galaxy to make up the total cosmic ray flux in our arm of our galaxy.
Juergens points out that the Sun is a rather mediocre star
as far as radiating energy goes. If it is electrically powered, perhaps its mediocrity is attributable to
a relatively unimpressive driving potential. This would mean that hotter, more luminous stars should have driving
potentials greater than that of the Sun and should consequently expel cosmic rays of greater energies than solar
cosmic rays. A star with a driving potential of 20 billion volts would expel protons energetic enough to
reach the Sun's surface, arriving with 10 billion
electron volts of energy to spare. Such
cosmic ions, when they collide with Earth's upper atmosphere release the muon neutrinos that have been much in
the news recently.
Hannes Alfven in his book, The New Astronomy, Chapter
2, Section III, pp 74-79, said about cosmic rays: "How these particles are driven to their fantastic energies,
sometimes as high as a million billion electron volts, is one of the prime puzzles of astronomy. No known (or even unknown) nuclear reaction could account for the
firing of particles with such energies; even
the complete annihilation of a proton would not yield more than a billion electron volts."
Fluctuations in the Solar "Wind"
It is interesting to note in passing that the three plots
presented above are identically the plots of energy, E-field, and charge distribution found in a pnp transistor. Of course
in that solid-state device there are different processes going on at different energy levels (valence band
and conduction band) within a solid crystal. In the solar plasma there are no fixed atomic centers
and so there is only one energy band. In a transistor, the amplitude of the collector current (analogous
to the drift of +ions in the solar wind toward the right) is easily controlled by raising and lowering
the difference between the base and emitter voltages. Is the same mechanism (a
voltage fluctuation between the anode-Sun and its photosphere) at work in the Sun? e.g., If the Sun's voltage
were to decrease slightly - say, because of an excessive flow of outgoing +ions - the voltage rise from point a
to b in the energy diagram would increase in height and so reduce the solar wind (both the inward electron
flow and the outward +ion flow) in a negative feedback effect. In May of 1999 the solar wind completely
stopped for about two days. There are also periodic variations in the solar wind. The transistor-like
mechanism described above is certainly capable of causing these phenomena. The fusion model is at a complete
loss to explain them.
Transistor 'cutoff' is
a process that is used in all digital circuits.
Characteristic Modes of a Plasma
In the page on Electric Plasma the three characteristic static
modes in which a plasma can operate are discussed. Here is a more detailed description. The volt-ampere characteristic
of a typical plasma discharge has the general shape shown below.
The volt-ampere plot of a plasma discharge.
This plot is easily measured for a laboratory plasma contained
in a column - a cylindrical glass tube with the anode at one end and the cathode at the other. These two terminals
are connected into an electrical circuit whereby the current through the tube can be controlled. In such
an experiment, the plasma has a constant cross-sectional area from one end of the tube to the other. The
vertical axis of the volt-ampere plot is the voltage rise from the cathode up to the anode (across the entire plasma)
as a function of the current passing through the plasma. The horizontal axis shows the Current Density. Current
density is the measurement of how many Amps per square meter are flowing through a cross-section of the tube.
In a cylindrical tube the cross-section is the same size at all points along the tube and so, the current density
at every cross-section is just proportional to the total current passing through the plasma.
When we consider the Sun, however, a spherical geometry
exists - with the sun at the center. The cross-section becomes an imaginary sphere. Assume a constant
total electron drift moving from all directions toward the Sun and a constant total radial flow of +ions outward.
Imagine a spherical surface of large radius through which this total current passes. As we approach the Sun
from deep space, this spherical surface has an ever decreasing area. Therefore, for a fixed total current,
the current density (A/m^2) increases as we move inward toward the Sun.
- In deep space the current density there is extremely low
even though the total current may be huge; we are in the dark
current region; there are no glowing gases,
nothing to tell us we are in a plasma discharge - except possibly some radio frequency emissions.
- As we get closer to the Sun, the spherical boundary has
a smaller surface area; the current density increases; we enter the normal glow region;
this is what we call the Sun's "corona". The intensity of the radiated light is much like a neon
sign.
- As we approach still closer to the Sun, the spherical
boundary gets to be only slightly larger than the Sun itself; the current density becomes extremely large; we enter
the arc region of the discharge. This is the anode tuft. This is the photosphere. The intensity
of the radiated light is much like an arc welding machine or continuous lightning. A high intensity ultraviolet
light is emitted.
Some early plasma researchers and most modern astronomers
believe that the only "true" plasma is one that is perfectly conductive (and so will "freeze"
magnetic fields into itself). The volt-ampere plot shown above indicates that this does not happen. Every point on the
plot (except the origin) has a non-zero voltage coordinate. The static resistivity of a plasma operating
at any point on the above volt-ampere plot is proportional to the slope of a straight line drawn from the origin to the point.
This means that, at every possible mode in which a plasma can operate, it has a non-zero static resistivity; it
takes a non-zero E-field to produce the current density. Obviously the static resistivity of a plasma
in the high end of the dark mode can be quite large. (The arc region and the left half of the glow region
exhibit negative dynamic resistance - and the E-field can be quite small - but that is not what is in question.)
No real plasma can "freeze-in" a magnetic field. The highest conductivity plasmas are those in
the arc mode. But, even in that mode, it takes a finite, non-zero valued electric field to produce a current
density. No plasma is an "ideal conductor".
Fusion in the Double Layer
The z-pinch effect of high intensity, parallel current filaments
in an arc plasma is very strong. Whatever nuclear fusion is taking place on the Sun is occurring here in the double
layer (DL) at the top of the photosphere (not deep within the core). The result of this fusion process are
the "metals" that give rise to absorption lines in the Sun's spectrum. Traces of sixty eight of
the ninety two natural elements are found in the Sun's atmosphere. Most of the radio frequency noise emitted by
the Sun emanates from this region. Radio noise is a well known property of DLs. The electrical power available
to be delivered to the plasma at any point is the product of the E-field (Volts per meter) times current density (Amps per square
meter). This multiplication operation yields Watts per cubic meter. The current density is relatively constant
over the height of the photospheric / chromospheric layers. However, the E-field is by far the strongest
at the center of the DL. Nuclear fusion takes a great deal of power - and that power is available in the DL.
It is also observed that the neutrino flux from the
Sun varies inversely with sunspot number. This is expected in the ES hypothesis because the source of those
neutrinos is z-pinch produced fusion which is occurring in the double layer - and sunspots are locations where
there is no DL in which this process can occur.
Sunspots and Coronal Holes
In a plasma, both the dimensions and the voltages of the anode
tufts depend on the current density at that location (near the anode). The tufts appear and/or disappear,
as needed, to maintain a certain required relationship between +ion and electron numbers in the total current.
This property of anode tuft plasmas was discovered, quantified, and reported by Irving Langmuir over fifty years
ago.
In the Electric Sun model, as with any plasma discharge, tufting
disappears wherever the flux of incoming electrons impinging onto a given area of the Sun's surface is not sufficiently
strong to require the shielding produced by the plasma double layer. At any such location, the anode tufting
collapses and we can see down to the actual anode surface of the Sun. Since there is no arc discharge occurring
in these locations, they appear darker than the surrounding area and are termed "sunspots". Of
course, if a tremendous amount of energy were being produced in the Sun's interior, the spot should be brighter and hotter
than the surrounding photosphere. The fact that sunspots are dark and cool strongly supports the contention that
very little, if anything, is going on in the Sun's interior. The center of the spot is called its umbra.
A sunspot showing the umbra, penumbra,
and surrounding anode tufts (DLs).
Because there is no anode tufting where a spot is located,
the voltage rise (region a to b in the energy plot above), which normally limits the local flow of positive ions leaving
the anode surface, does not exist there. In sunspots, then, a large number of ions will flood outward toward
the lower corona. Such a flow constitutes a large electrical current - and, as such, will produce a strong localized
magnetic field near the sunspot.
The Sun's corona is difficult to see except in solar eclipses
and in X ray images. This is because the corona is a "normal glow" discharge compared to the tufts which
are in "arc mode". In some X ray images of the Sun (such as the one shown in
the first figure at the
very top of this page) we can see "coronal holes" - large dark regions in the brighter image of the solar
corona. The bright regions in X-ray images of the corona indicate hotter, more energetic areas; these are
mainly above the sunspot regions.
In the three images of a sunspot group, shown below:
- The top one is the photosphere - taken in visible light
- where, in the umbrae, we can see down to the dark (cool) surface of the Sun. Ions are pouring upward out
of the Sun at these locations.
- The middle image is taken in ultraviolet light and shows
the chromosphere / transition region.
- The lower panel is an X-ray image showing the violent
activity in the lower corona. This activity is due to the flood of accelerating positive ions escaping the
Sun and colliding with atoms higher in the atmosphere (lower corona).
The effects of +ions flowing out of a sunspot.
Strong electric currents also flow in and above the Sun's
surface at the edge of sunspot umbrae due to the voltage difference between nearby anode tufts and the central
umbrae of the spots (where there are no tufts). This region is called a sunspot's penumbra. These currents
of course produce magnetic fields. Since, in plasmas, twisting electrical (Birkeland) currents follow the direction
of magnetic fields, the glowing plasma in these regions often shows the complicated shapes of these spot related
looping magnetic fields. Remember. Brikeland currents TWIST !
(c)
(Left) The Penumbra - Birkeland currents following the voltage drop from the
photosphere down to the umbra.
(Right) The twisting Birkeland currents evident in a detailed image of the penumbral
streamers.
Prominences, Flares, and CME's
All of the above discussion applies to the steady-state
(or almost steady-state) operation of the Electric Sun. But there are several dynamic phenomena such
as flares, prominences, and coronal mass ejections (CME's) that we observe. How are they produced? Nobel
laureate Hannes Alfven, although not aware of the Juergens Electric Sun model, advanced his own theory (3) of how
prominences and solar flares are formed electrically. It is completely consistent with the Juergens model.
It too is electrical.
Any electric current, i, creates a magnetic
field (the stronger the current - the stronger the magnetic field, and the more energy it contains). Curved
magnetic fields cannot exist without either electrical currents or time varying electric fields. Energy,
Wm, stored in any magnetic field, is given by the expression
Wm = 1/2 Li
^2. If the current, i,
is interrupted, the field collapses and its energy must be delivered somewhere. The magnetic field of the
Sun sometimes, and in some places on its surface, forms an "omega" shaped loop. This loop extends
out through the double sheath layer (DL) of the chromosphere. One of the primary properties of Birkeland currents
is that they generally follow magnetic field lines. A strong looping current will produce a secondary toroidal
magnetic field that will surround and try to expand the loop. If the current following the loop becomes too strong,
the DL will be destroyed1. This interrupts the current (like opening a switch in an inductive
circuit) and the energy stored in the primary magnetic field is explosively released into space.
Hannes Alfven's Solar Prominence Circuit TRACE Image of Plasma Loops
It should be well understood (certainly by anyone who has
had a basic physics course) that the magnetic field "lines"2 that are drawn to describe a magnetic field, have no beginning
nor end. They are closed paths. In fact one of Maxwell's famous equations is: "div B = 0".
Which says precisely that (in the language of vector differential calculus). So when magnetic fields collapse due
to the interruption of the currents that produce them, they do not "break" or "merge" and "recombine"
as some uninformed astronomers have claimed (e.g., see the quote regarding the mainstream concerns above - in 4.
Acceleration of the Solar "Wind" Ions). The field simply collapses (very quickly!). On the Sun
this collapse releases a tremendous amount of energy, and matter is thrown out away from the surface - as with
any explosively rapid reaction. This release is consistent with and predicted by the Electric Sun model as
described above. Some astronomers have proposed that heat is routinely transported out to the lower corona
by magnetic fields and released there by "reconnection of magnetic field lines, whereby oppositely directed
lines cancel each other out, converting magnetic energy into heat. The process requires that the field lines be
able to diffuse through the plasma." This idea is inventive but, unfortunately, has no scientific
basis whatever.
Note that although astronomers ought to be aware that magnetic fields require electrical currents or time varying E-fields to
produce them, currents and E-fields are never mentioned in standard models. Possibly because they
do not seem to be included in astrophysics curricula.
1. Double layers can be destroyed by at least two different
mechanisms: a) Zener Breakdown - The electric field gradient becomes strong enough to rip all charges away from
an area, thus breaking the discharge path; b) Avalanche Breakdown - A literal avalanche occurs wherein all charges
are swept away and no conducting charges are left - thus the conducting path is opened.
2. A magnetic field is a continuum. It is not
a set of discrete 'lines'. Lines are drawn in the classroom to describe the magnetic field (its
direction and magnitude). But the lines themselves do not actually exist. They are simply a pedagogical device.
Proposing that these lines break, merge, and/or recombine is an error (violation
of Maxwell's equations) compounded on another error (the lines do not really exist in the first place). Magnetic
field lines are analogous to lines of latitude and longitude. They are not discrete entities with nothing in between
them - you can draw as many of them as close together as you'd like. And they most certainly do not break,
merge, or reconnect any more than lines of latitude do. Oppositely directed magnetic
intensity H-fields simply cancel each other - no energy is stored or released in that event.
Conclusion
This has been the briefest
of introductions to Juergens' Electric Sun
model - the realization that our Sun functions electrically - that it is a huge electrically charged, relatively
quiescent, sphere of ionized gas that supports an electric plasma arc discharge on its surface and is powered by subtle
currents that move throughout the now well known tenuous plasma that fills our galaxy.
A more detailed description of the ES hypothesis
as well as the deficiencies of the standard solar fusion
model are presented in The Electric Sky.Today's orthodox thermonuclear models fail to explain many
observed solar phenomena. The Electric Sun model is inherently
predictive of all these observed phenomena.
It is relatively simple. It is self consistent. And it does not require the existence of mysterious entities such
as the unseen solar 'dynamo' genie that lurks somewhere beneath the surface of the fusion model. The
Electric Sun model does not violate Maxwell's equations as the fusion model does.
Ralph Juergens had the genius to develop the Electric Sun
model back in the 1970's. His hypothesis has so far passed the harsh tests of observed reality. His seminal
work may eventually get the recognition it deserves. Or, of course, others may try to claim it, or parts
of it, and hope the world forgets who came up with these ideas first.
There is now enough inescapable evidence that a majority
of the phenomena we observe on the Sun are fundamentally electrical in nature. Ralph Juergens was the person
with the vision to see it.
Ralph Juergens in 1949.
