A round storm cell covers an area with a diameter of 1km.

Last updated: 7/30/2022

A round storm cell covers an area with a diameter of 1km. The clouds that make up the cell range in altitude from 867m to 5309m. The clouds are charged negative on the bottom and positive on the top due to some incompletely understood mechanism (possibly friction between ice crystals and the air). The surface of the Earth acquires a positive charge by induction as the negative charges are driven deeper into the Earth. Determine... a. The direction of the electric field within the clouds of the storm cell. b. The direction of the electric field in the space between the bottom of the cell and the surface of the Earth. c. The capacitance of the storm cell capacitor. d. The capacitance of the space between the bottom of the cell and the surface of the Earth (aka the Earth-cloud capacitor). e. Considering that the air breaks down at an electric field strength of 3,000,000 V/m, what is the maximum voltage difference between the cloud and the ground that the air can sustain before lighting would strike? f. The maximum charge that can be stored in the Earth-cloud capacitor.