Atmospheric Electricity: A Project Abstract

This is the electrometer pod

This is the electrometer circuit and batteries inside the payload pod

This is the parallel plate/circuit connection

My plans for a research project are closely tied to the High Altitude Balloon team that I am a part of here at Cedarville University. Our team is currently perfecting the capability to loft payloads to altitudes of 90,000-100,000 feet using StratoStar's Balloon system. This platform gives us access to perform scientific research anywhere from ground level to these near-space heights as many of you know. Specifically my project idea is to develop a payload (currently in the final stages of construction) which will be able to measure the ambient electric field in the atmosphere, and provide a profile of this charge showing how it varies depending on height, humidity, and other atmospheric conditions. There are many mysteries involved with understanding the nature of electric charges in our atmosphere. By performing this research I hope to add to knowledge which might lead to the a better understanding of questions like, “What mechanism is it that creates charge in the atmosphere?” “What force is it that causes thunderclouds to separate into positive and negative charges?” and “Could the electricity in the atmosphere someday be harnessed for useful purposes?” One other idea would be to perform this type of measurement on Mars some day. Before we can answer some of the big questions like these, there must be a more basic understanding of the presence and behavior of electric charge in the atmosphere, and this is the goal of my project. The electrometer is attached to the bottom of one of our payload pods, and is composed of two parallel plates and a circuit which will amplify our signal during launch and transmit the data back to our base station. The electrometer itself is a fairly simple concept and was quite inexpensive to make. If anyone if interested in learning more about this project just let me know. My plans are to make the first full scale trial of the electrometer during the HALO 2 launch on 4 April, also I plan to use this research next year for my capstone physics course.

This is a diagram of our parallel plate circuit

This is a close up shot of the circuit