Quote:
Originally posted by: Phire
I'm curious. If the earth a near perfect conductor, would this mean we can pass electricity through it like a electrical wire?
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Actually, it is quite common to use the earth as a conductor. The first post on this subject cited the following URL,
When One Wire Is Enough
The first telegraphs used one wire and the return as earth ground. Many of the first rural telephones were one wire with earth ground return.
Atmospheric physicists state that the earth surface has a negative charge relative to the ionosphere, which implies there is a concentration of free electrons in the near crustal surface that counteracts the ionospheric positive charge. One of my questions is, how much do these extra free electrons contribute to earth conductivity in the upper crustal area?
