Neon signs in the sky

Metallic weather - Part 4 of the Lightning series

It is possible to create lightning sparks using a Leyden jar, or apparently thumbtacks in a dryer sheet on top of a glass jar with aluminium foil in and a balloon… we have tried both of these experiments unsuccessfully but will be persevering! The common factor in both types of experiments is that aluminium, a metal nail and static is present. One charges a build up of negative ions in the air contained within the jar, the other charges a build up of negative ions in salt water solution. We will pick this apart further a little later.

Aluminium Oxide

We hear frequently about aluminium oxide being part of the trails, which will supposedly be used to block out the sun’s harmful infrared radiation. As we should know by now, often what we are told ‘will’ happen, already is, and what it is designed officially to do, often is a deviation from the real purpose. So let’s have a look at what Aluminium oxide does to put a few of the rumours to bed.

Static Electricity - Copyright: Richard Bright via interaliamag dot org

Aluminium oxide is hygroscopic, in that it attracts water molecules to the oxide layer covering the aluminium molecule, BUT it has no solubility in water, only in acids. Aluminium oxide comes in various forms. Some of the most common are corundum, a crystalline powder used as an abrasive. This form is also involved in the creation of gemstones rubies and sapphires. Aluminium oxide is refined from the crushing of Bauxite (ore containing aluminium), dissolving the crushed ore with sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), various stages of filtering, washing and drying to remove the water content, which leaves a fine white powder. Importantly, free aluminium does not exist in nature, as when it is exposed to oxygen, it will always develop an oxide layer.

Brockmann aluminium oxide is used for ion chromatography, a process that is used to measure the presence of pollutant particles using eluent to separate them from a resin column.  This form and other aluminium oxides are adsorbent, which means that molecules of gas, ions and atoms adhere to them. Aluminium oxide is a really effective electrical insulator and as such is used as electrical barriers and in ceramic alumina compounds as substraits for circuitry.

Let’s look at how aluminium oxide might be used to refract infrared light as featured in the patented Welsbach invention, as one potential compound in the proposed Stratospheric Aerosol Injection programme.

Nanosized particulates of aluminium oxide and other metals can be achieved by ball milling. These nanoparticles are easily suspended in the atmosphere and some metals and minerals have good refractive indexes. Aluminium oxide has a refractive index of approximately 1.76 at various wavelengths including the infrared spectrum. Other compounds have higher refraction properties such as titanium dioxide, which measures approximately 2.5, meaning smaller amounts would be needed for the same effect. Aluminium is the most abundant metal on the planet, whilst titanium is only 9th. Titanium dioxide is used in the production of most white paint, which explains its higher refractive index. It has good adsorption properties for some heavy metals including lead, cadmium and antimony from waste water. Aluminium oxide, however, is frequently used commercially as an adsorbant for heavy metals from waste water, which might give us some clues as to why it might be preferred in the Welsbach patent. In terms of density, aluminium is nearly half the density (2.70 grams per cm cubed) of titanium (4.51 grams per cm cubed), so lends itself more readily to suspension of aerosolised particles.

In theory, as aluminium oxide is so efficient at adsorbing ions, molecules of gases and atoms, it is possible that it could be used not only to deflect infrared light, but also to adsorb other aerosolised particles that otherwise would be free to contaminate the atmosphere and then water and soil. These particles might also be radioactive in nature. We know that just millimetres of aluminium can adsorb alpha and beta particles and can block some gamma rays depending on the thickness. This article on different radiation absorption properties of materials and thicknesses is useful.

Aluminium oxide, in summary, is great at adsorbing heavy metals and potentially irradiated particles, has a relatively good refraction potential, seems to be able to create cirrus based cloud cover without precipitating rain, is non soluble in water, is available in abundance and is relatively light weight. This article from The Department of Atmospheric Science, University of Colorado on ice nuclei surrogates (if indeed it is being used to create cloud cover already) lists aluminium oxide and alumina-silicate as well as iron oxide as ice nuclei substitutes (needed to form cirrus cloud). According to Stanford University it really does have some super power qualities as a metal oxide particularly when it comes to preventing planes from rusting and for its ability to absorb toxins. Brown notes, ‘the real driving force for this research is the important role that hydrated metal oxide surfaces in soils and sediments play in removing toxic metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic, and selenium from contaminated groundwater.’, and of course it is an incredibly efficient electrical insulator.

How does this all relate to lightning? Our analysis only allows us to theorise about how lightning might be being engineered, as we do not have access to the specific seeding documentation. Therefore we need to work backwards or reverse engineer theory based on what we observe in relation to seeding, electrical charges and properties of elements. As aluminium is highly adsorbent it is possible that it not only absorbs some particulate products of lightning, but potentially also the starter materials for the lightning. It also might be used to balance out and dampen the electrical charge in the atmosphere.

‘Fire and Flame’
To help us in this quest for potential lightning starter particles we started with this lengthy but amusing lecture by Dr Peter Wothers from the Royal Society of Chemistry, on Fire and Flame.

There are, according to this lecture, multiple compounds and single elements that can combust. Some might combust spontaneously on contact with oxygen or water vapour, some may require sparks perhaps in the form of static charge, and some require sustained heat. It is also clear that various compounds might accentuate an electric charge differential within the ‘cloud’, whatever that might be made of, that could promote the discharge of lightning. Going back to our plastic bottle leyden jar electrical discharge, it is now easy to see that the salt water acts as a reservoir for the negative ions, the nail a conductor to move the negative ions from the polyester pipe through the nail in to the salt water, and the aluminium foil acts as an insulator to prevent the negative ions escaping from the bottle, before they are discharged from the nail using another metal object.

Cloud Seeding for Rain

Cloud seeding can be carried out using flares, seeding canisters or ground seeding generators. Our observations have shown that many lightning storms seem to be seeded from ground or ocean level generators. The starting point of the seeding is almost always static if on land, or moving at a slow pace if from the ocean. As we spoke about in the previous article, if the pin point origin stays static but grows very quickly in to clouds showing electrical activity (our key resource for these is zoom.earth), our conclusion has been that this must be ground to air seeding. This video of flare ground seeding gives a better idea of how this occurs for rain making, this one shows continual ground seeding generators, and this one shows rocket based cloud seeding in China.

Why is silver iodide used as rainmaking cloud seeding material? Silver iodide helps to coalesce water in wet cloud - that is cloud that has warmed enough in the lower part of a cumulus cloud to form water droplets. The cloud is heavy enough with water, that adding the relatively dense hygroscopic silver iodide particles help coalesce these wet droplets into larger water droplets, making them too heavy to remain suspended in the cloud and allowing them to fall to the ground as rain. Silver has a density of 10.49 grams per cubic centimetre, which is 4 times that of aluminium.

Combustible metals and compounds
Next we thought we would look at elements and compounds with pyrophoricity or those which are combustible on exposure to oxygen and/or water vapour. There is surprisingly long list of different types of metals which have pyrophoric properties. Of particular interest are finely divided elemental metals. These include, of the more common metals, calcium, chromium, cobalt, titanium, iron, lead, lithium, manganese, nickel and potassium. Some metal organic compounds can also be highly volatile. These do not have metal carbon bonds but organic ligands or bonds. Two groups of this type are metal acetylacetonates and alkoxides. Some gas hydrides are also combustible, the most interesting of this list being silane, which is produced from the interaction of acid and magnesium silicide. This gas is discussed in the Royal Society of Chemistry lecture above. In this lecture Dr Wothers also showed the auto combustion of lithium in air.

Many elemental metals are used in fireworks to produce the array of beautiful colours we see on Guy Fawkes and New Year celebrations . Let’s have a look at the colour produced by some of these metals when they burn. Calcium – yellow-orange flame, nickel, chromium, titanium and cobalt – white flame,  lithium – deep pink to dark red flame, iron – gold flame, potassium – light purple to red flame, lead and copper – blue flame, manganese – white to pale green/yellow.

Sprites, elves and jets
The colour of metal and gas burn is important, whether or not they are able to burn spontaneously, react to a static charge or to the intensity of lighting. This goes some way to help us understand what might be happening in the atmosphere when lightning takes place. NASA and other organisations have put a lot of research time in to a phenomenon that has apparently only recently been discovered. The presence of colourful elves, sprites and jets (not of the fairy land variety) in lightning discharges may actually be more new than we think, particularly if they are down to the presence of usual amounts of gases and metals. NASA and the Russian Space programme have been observing the earth from the International Space Station for the last 24 years, from launch in 1998. In April 2012 a picture was released of a red coloured ‘sprite’ emanating out of the top of cloud based lightning bolt.

This was a full 14 years after the launch of ISS. Apparently during 100 years of flight, pilots have been reporting these types of effects in the sky, discounted by scientists until this recording by the ISS. Here is a video featuring the sprites, elves and other lightning facts.

Burst of Gamma Rays and Sprites - Snappermiles Photography

Sprites stand for Stratospheric/mesospheric perturbations resulting from intense thunderstorm electrification. They produce a ball of red light turning purple and blue in tendrils hanging down. Elves are emissions of light and very low frequency perturbations due to electromagnetic pulse sources and are a red/pink colour. Blue jets are narrow blue cones that speed out of the top of storm clouds, fan out and disappear. These have been identified as possibly gamma photons or plasma emanating from the lightning bolt. You can see many more images of these emissions here on SpaceWeatherGallery.

Noble Gases
Theory says that these emissions from the top of storm clouds appear due to noble gases. Nobles gases are helium, neon, argon, krypton, radon and xenon. They are usually stable under normal environmental conditions. If a high voltage is applied to each of these gases the following colours are produced: helium – pale purple, neon – orange red, argon – deep purple, krypton – white, radon is not used as it is a radioactive noble gas, and xenon – blue. So it is possible that the red sprites are made up of neon gas, the blue jets are made from xenon and the elves perhaps a mix of neon and krypton. This would require a build up of concentrated pockets of these gases in the atmosphere. These gases are usually present as follows: xenon 90 parts per billion, argon is 0.93% or 9300 parts per million, neon 18.2 ppm, helium 5.2 ppm, krypton 1ppm. The largest concentration of gas is argon, which creates a deep purple colour. The others are in such low concentration that it is unlikely that any of them could create the reds of the sprites, red/pink halo of the elves and blue jets of the lower emissions from the upper part of the cloud.

Combusting Ice Nuclei?
Is it possible that these emissions are the result of the presence of metals, minerals and compounds that might make up the ice nuclei of these cumulus and cumulus nimbus storm clouds? As we know from the previous lightning article, MIT and NOAA found that 65% of cirrus clouds are formed from mineral and metal ice nuclei. It could be possible that cumulus cloud forming below these might also contain a percentage of these types of particles. Likewise anvil shaped storm clouds which extend from the cumulus through the cirrus and up to the tropopause.

Elemental and finely divided metals that create these colours when heated might be lithium and strontium for the red sprites, copper burns a blue to aqua colour, lead, selenium, antimony and arsenic all burn shades of blue and potassium, radium and caesium burn in the pink/purple spectrum. This clearly does not account for the burn colour of every single element and gas in existence but it gives us some idea of what might be in the mix to create such a colourful after lightning show.

Which of these materials might be useful in creating an imbalanced charge in the atmopshere when in collision with other particles? There are three groups of materials. The first generate a more positive charge as they loose negative electrons when collided or rubbed, the second have a neutral charge, the third generates a negative charge as they absorb electrons. This list is detailed here in a very simplified class-based learning document.

Cloud based electrical charge
Lightning is most often generated when there is a highly negative charge at the base of a cloud, which then rebalances by connecting, through the lightning bolt, with the positive charge in the earth or indeed to a positive charge in another cloud. There is a school of thought which dictates the negative charge and positive charge differential, or electrical charge build up in clouds, is only activated through the separation of the electrical charge of water molecules. However, as most ice nuclei in cirrus cloud are mineral and metal, we think that it might be the compound within the ice nuclei, the particles around which the ice or condensate gathers, which dictate where the ice nuclei ends up in the cloud. Whether it gains a positive or negative charge as it is colliding around with other particles in the cloud, brings us back to the theory of static charges.

Let’s take some of the compounds which create heavily negative static charges in a cloud. Obviously plastics like polyurethane, polyethelyne, polypropane and polystyrene all develop highly negative electrical charge but metals including copper, nickel, brass, silver, gold and platinum can attract negative charges. Another group of metals, also detailed above in the chemistry lecture are called anions or alkalide forms of metals, and hold a negative charge of -1, which may explain why their finely divided elemental forms are all so combustible in air. Lithium has significant electrical properties in that it carries a negative charge to a positive one and vice versa. This animation shows the movement of ions through a car battery as an example. Lithium is one of the lightest metals for the amount of electrical charge it can hold. It is very interesting that the lightest or least dense metal elements are also the most combustible. Lithium is the lightest by far at 0.533 grams per cubic centimetre, potassium is 0.855, sodium is 0.97, phosphorus is 1.83.

Lightning generation

When we compare materials which develop a negative charge when collided, with their relative densities, we can see which elements might be more suitable to create an electric charge within cloud. The plastics listed above are incredibly light and would work well in developing a negative charge in the base of a cloud, however, many of these plastics are not hygroscopic, as in they do not form ice or condensation nuclei and therefore do not work well in forming clouds of water vapour. It might be that if they were added to a ground seeding generator in a dry climate, they could serve as a static electricity generator whilst the ice nuclei for storm clouds are forming. This could be a valuable material in the generation of dry lightning, or lightning that discharges without rainfall. It might also explain why we are reading about the presence of microplastics in patient lungs recently. The formation of cloud is important in the creation of storm fronts. These can then be directed by engineering areas of high and low pressure. Heat can be generated by lightning, therefore, when looking at the line of suspected ground seeded lightning across central Africa in late March 2020, we can easily see how this weather modification might have created the high winds across the Sahara, bringing dust, metal particles and more up through Europe.

Let’s look at the metals which create a negative electrical charge with ther comparative densities: Lithium (0.533 grams per cubic centimetre), Nickel (8.90), Copper (8.93), Brass (8.5-8.8), Silver (10.49), Gold (19.30) and Platinum (21.45). Combinations of finely divided powders of these elements might be used according to affordability, densities at a nanometre scale, hygroscopic potential and negative electrical charge potential. The density of similar sized nanoparticles would dictate how they would behave as aerosols in updrafts of clouds. Lithium of course would be higher up in the cloud system, platinum would be closest to the base of the cloud.

Our conclusion from this analysis, is that certain elements and materials lend themselves more readily to the creation of lightning discharges. The colour discharges from lightning phenomena of Elves and Sprites also support the theory that certain metals might be present including lithium, copper and nickel.

Lightning seems to be able to form quickly in a drier environment, where we have seen organised lines and concentrations of these plume type lightning features. As soon as rain falls, this dampens down the electrical potential in a storm cloud, but it would also bring down to the ground any chemicals or elements that might be needed to create certain effects. This may explain why, despite seeing lightning plumes appear in central Brazil in March 2022, these did not develop in to concentrated and heavy lightning clusters. The Amazon rain forest is extremely damp, where central Africa is extremely dry. If there is nefarious creation of lightning, a dry lightning storm would allow a more prolonged and powerful gamma ray cascade, which in turn can be steered and fed with further seeding modification.

We also conclude that aluminium oxide might well have been given a nefarious role in weather modification that is undeserved.

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Thank you to Sebastien, Nicky, Elayne and Loretta who have helped by bouncing around ideas on this complex subject.

Next up we will be talking about the interplay between atmospheric and geological electrical charges, and the role of cyclotron resonance in cellular damage.