Tom Donaly wrote:


There was once an article in the old Scientific American Amateur
Scientist section about using the earth's electric field to
power various static electric motors. Just build a motor from
one of the simple designs on the web; using a weather balloon,
run a wire up 300 feet or so (should give you 9000 volts or
so on a clear day); attach your motor between the wire and ground, and,
once the wire charges up, the motor turns. You won't get much work
out of it, but it'll run a long time.
73,
Tom Donaly, KA6RUH
Thanks, Tom, for your reasonable response. So, I guess we're talking
lots of voltage and very little current...makes sense.
Wasn't Ben Franklin involved in working all this out?

I'll ask another question that no doubt is off the mark:

The Santa Ana winds in California are supposed to blow for long periods
of time. Are there any measures of voltage, current, joules or cole
slaw on antennas in this area? Do they experience the "noise"?
Couldn't one connect a large capacitor circuit to store the charge and
trickle it to a battery?

(I just won't give up, eh?)