01-17-2011, 12:46 PM
I had an interesting dream last night. Some of you might have seen a recent news item, to the effect that scientists have discovered that thunderstorms create anti-matter showers (radiating outwards from the atmosphere), and that said scientists as yet can offer no explanation for this. My dream concerns this phenomenon.
In the dream, I was with my cousin Hugh in some small town. We were walking up the street to go to a local brewpub to have a few beers. In the context of the dream, the town was a university town, and I had gone back to school to pursue a post-graduate degree in physics.
We arrived at the brewpub and walked in. Since it was a university town, the host was requiring everyone entering the pub to show IDs, and I had to do so even though I am 51 years old and obviously not underage. I pulled out my driver's license and also my university ID, which showed that I was a graduate student in physics. Two fellows who were bellied up to the bar apparently also were physics students or professors (although I didn't know them), and were discussing the mystery of the thunderstorm-antimatter connection. I joined in the discussion.
As I am not, in waking life, a physicist, I have no idea whether what I told them is correct, or makes sense, but I will repeat it here. I said, "The Earth's magnetosphere insulates the earth from the huge electrical flux emanating from the sun. As such, it acts like a PNP (positive-negative-positve) transistor; the voltage potential between the earth's surface and the solar wind starts out huge, decreases along an exponential curve until it reaches the outer surface of the magnetosphere, then shows an enormous spike upward; beyond the outer edge of the magnetosphere, it again decreases along an exponential curve. During a thunderstorm, the warm water vapor (along with dust and atmospheric ions) rises up far enough through the atmosphere to breach the insulation of the magnetosphere and complete the circuit; the result is a ground-to-cloud-to-space electrical discharge across the transistor."
At that time the barkeep handed us our pints of beer, and we decided to go down to a lower room in the pub. To do so, we had to climb down through an odd contraption that was like a cross between a ladder and a lifeguard's chair.....quite a feat while carrying a pint of ale. I managed to make it down, but my cousin thought better of it and didn't descend. After waiting for him for a while, I climbed back out to look for him, but he had apparently left the pub...so I followed. On the way out, I leaned over to the physicists and said, "The resultant discharge deionizes monopole protons in the solar wind, and this is what causes the anti-matter shower."
In the dream, I was with my cousin Hugh in some small town. We were walking up the street to go to a local brewpub to have a few beers. In the context of the dream, the town was a university town, and I had gone back to school to pursue a post-graduate degree in physics.
We arrived at the brewpub and walked in. Since it was a university town, the host was requiring everyone entering the pub to show IDs, and I had to do so even though I am 51 years old and obviously not underage. I pulled out my driver's license and also my university ID, which showed that I was a graduate student in physics. Two fellows who were bellied up to the bar apparently also were physics students or professors (although I didn't know them), and were discussing the mystery of the thunderstorm-antimatter connection. I joined in the discussion.
As I am not, in waking life, a physicist, I have no idea whether what I told them is correct, or makes sense, but I will repeat it here. I said, "The Earth's magnetosphere insulates the earth from the huge electrical flux emanating from the sun. As such, it acts like a PNP (positive-negative-positve) transistor; the voltage potential between the earth's surface and the solar wind starts out huge, decreases along an exponential curve until it reaches the outer surface of the magnetosphere, then shows an enormous spike upward; beyond the outer edge of the magnetosphere, it again decreases along an exponential curve. During a thunderstorm, the warm water vapor (along with dust and atmospheric ions) rises up far enough through the atmosphere to breach the insulation of the magnetosphere and complete the circuit; the result is a ground-to-cloud-to-space electrical discharge across the transistor."
At that time the barkeep handed us our pints of beer, and we decided to go down to a lower room in the pub. To do so, we had to climb down through an odd contraption that was like a cross between a ladder and a lifeguard's chair.....quite a feat while carrying a pint of ale. I managed to make it down, but my cousin thought better of it and didn't descend. After waiting for him for a while, I climbed back out to look for him, but he had apparently left the pub...so I followed. On the way out, I leaned over to the physicists and said, "The resultant discharge deionizes monopole protons in the solar wind, and this is what causes the anti-matter shower."