Measuring Electrical Differentials in Space

One of the most common objections to electrical models of cosmic structure is simple: Where are the voltages? If space is electrically active, why do we not measure enormous potential differences between planets or stars? Why are there no visible sparks crossing the void?

The question is reasonable — but it assumes that voltage in space should behave like voltage across two copper terminals on a laboratory bench.

Here on Earth, we live inside a persistent electric field. In fair-weather conditions, the atmosphere maintains a vertical potential gradient of roughly 100 volts per metre near the surface (see Rycroft et al., 2008, Reviews of Geophysics). At head height, the electric potential may differ from ground by on the order of a hundred volts. Yet we feel nothing. There are no continuous discharges between our shoes and our scalp.

The reason is straightforward: voltage alone is not dramatic. What produces physical effect is current — the movement of charge. The atmosphere is weakly conductive, charges redistribute rapidly, and bodies equilibrate with their surroundings. A substantial potential difference can exist quietly when charge mobility is high and current density is low.

Space plasma behaves similarly — though on a far grander scale.

Plasma is described as quasi-neutral: the densities of positive and negative charges are nearly equal on average. Large, sustained charge separations are difficult to maintain because plasma is highly conductive, especially along magnetic field lines (see Chen, Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion). Electric fields therefore tend to organise into thin structures — double layers, sheaths, boundary regions — rather than spanning vast empty gaps as simple static differentials.

This makes the idea of measuring a “voltage between planets” more subtle than it appears. A voltmeter requires two reference points and a conductive path. In space, the measuring instrument and the spacecraft that hosts it become part of the electrical system. Spacecraft routinely charge relative to surrounding plasma — sometimes to hundreds or even thousands of volts — depending on solar illumination and local conditions. Electric fields are indeed measured in space, but they are local, dynamic, and embedded within a conducting medium that continuously redistributes charge.

The absence of an easily defined planetary-scale voltage difference does not imply the absence of electrical structure. It reflects the difficulty of defining absolute potentials within a quasi-neutral, magnetised plasma.

An instructive example is the Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1R) mission in 1996, a joint NASA–Italian Space Agency experiment. A conducting tether nearly 20 kilometres long was deployed from the Space Shuttle into low Earth orbit. As it moved through Earth’s magnetic field and ionospheric plasma, it generated an electromotive force of roughly 3,500 volts, with currents approaching an ampere. The tether ultimately failed due to insulation breakdown and arcing (NASA SP-1998-208834).

The lesson was not exotic. It confirmed well-established electrodynamics: motion through a magnetised plasma can generate significant potentials and currents. Space is not electrically inert. Under the right conditions, conductive structures interacting with plasma produce measurable electrical effects. Related discussions of plasma–body interaction in cometary environments can be found in the section on Electric Comets.

The key point is not that “space is full of sparks,” but that substantial potentials can arise naturally in orbital environments — often distributed, regulated, and structured within plasma dynamics rather than expressed as dramatic static discharges.

Modern cosmology explains large-scale structure primarily through gravity, curvature, and collapse. Electric fields are acknowledged locally — in magnetospheres, auroras, and solar wind interactions — yet are often assumed to be secondary at cosmic scales because sustained static charge separations appear unlikely.

But plasma physics offers a more nuanced picture. Electric fields need not manifest as simple, static voltage gaps. They may be filamentary, confined to double layers, or sustained by currents flowing through vast conducting media. The challenge is not merely measuring voltage; it is recognising that in plasma environments, structure and electromagnetism are inseparable.

While this does not, by itself, constitute definitive proof that galaxies are powered by intergalactic currents, nor does it negate gravitational theory, it does challenge the assumption that electrical effects are negligible at cosmic scales. Difficulty of measurement is not evidence of absence. In plasma environments, quiet fields and distributed currents can organise structure without announcing themselves in dramatic discharges.

In a conducting universe, voltage does not always shout. Sometimes it is distributed — mediated by plasma, structured by magnetism, and revealed only when we place a conductor into its path.

References
Rycroft, M.J., et al. (2008). The global atmospheric electric circuit. Reviews of Geophysics.
Chen, F.F. Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.
NASA SP-1998-208834. The Tethered Satellite System (TSS-1R) Mission Report.

The Earth's magnetic field acts rather like a protective cocoon. Flowing over and around it is the solar wind — the dilute but persistent stream of plasma, made up of protons, electrons, and other ions, emitted by the Sun. This plasma flow, together with its associated electromagnetic fields, distorts the Earth's own field, compressing it on the dayside and stretching it into a long tail on the nightside. The resulting structure is known as the magnetosphere.

Because the Sun is understood to emit roughly equal quantities of positive and negative charge, the solar wind is generally described in mainstream astronomy as electrically neutral. From an electrical point of view, however, this is misleading. A plasma may be quasi-neutral overall while still carrying organised electrical currents. In that sense, the solar wind is not electrically insignificant, but part of a vast and active electrical environment. Terms such as solar wind and solar radiation tend to obscure this fact, reflecting the broader reluctance to acknowledge the central role of electricity in space.

Plasmas also interact with the extensive magnetic fields of the solar system, and when conducting fluids or plasmas move through a magnetic field, a dynamo effect can arise. The electrical energy needed to drive the current is taken from relative motion. This is entirely consistent with the laws of physics: if a closed circuit exists, and part of it moves through a magnetic field while other parts do not, an electric current will be generated. That is the basic principle behind a dynamo.

Magnetic forces play only a subtle role in everyday life, typically requiring sensitive instruments — such as a compass needle — to be detected. This is largely because the materials we encounter, from the ground beneath our feet to the air we breathe, are electrically neutral overall, masking the presence of underlying electrical activity.

At altitudes of around 60 miles (100 kilometres) and above, however, the situation changes fundamentally. Here, the outer fringes of the atmosphere are dominated by plasma — ionised, electrically active matter — which responds not passively, but dynamically, to electromagnetic forces. Charged particles are guided, accelerated, and confined by the Earth's magnetic field, forming vast, structured regions of activity. These are not static fields, but components of an active electrical system.

The intensity and complexity of this environment came as one of the earliest surprises of the space age. What had been assumed to be a relatively quiet, magnetically dominated region was revealed instead to be highly dynamic and electrically active. The immense scale of planetary magnetospheres — extending tens or even hundreds of planetary radii — further underscores the point. Such structures are not easily reconciled with purely gravitational or passive magnetic models, but are entirely consistent with the known behaviour of plasma in large-scale electromagnetic systems.

In contrast to the dayside of the magnetosphere — compressed and confined by the solar wind — the nightside is drawn out into a long, tapering structure known as the magnetotail. Far from being a passive extension, this region is highly dynamic, with ions and electrons continually accelerated and redistributed. The magnetotail serves as a primary energy reservoir for auroral activity, feeding the spectacular displays of the polar aurora.

This behaviour is not unique to Earth. The plasma environment of Venus, for example, forms an immense tail that can extend tens of millions of kilometres into space — in some configurations stretching far enough to approach Earth's orbit during close planetary alignments. Such scales highlight the extent to which planetary environments are embedded within, and shaped by, a wider plasma system.

Spacecraft observations have also revealed filamentary, “string-like” structures within these tails — features long anticipated by early pioneers such as Kristian Birkeland. These structures are consistent with the tendency of electric currents in plasma to organise into filaments, a behaviour well established in laboratory plasma experiments. What was once unexpected is now increasingly recognised as a natural consequence of plasma dynamics in an electromagnetic environment.

Magnetic disturbances are most commonly observed during auroral displays, where they are strongest in high-latitude regions and diminish towards the equator. This spatial pattern strongly suggests the presence of electric currents flowing in near-Earth space. Currents, by their very nature, require closed circuits. Kristian Birkeland proposed that these currents flow along magnetic field lines from space into the upper atmosphere at one end of an auroral arc, and return to space at the other, forming continuous loops and flowing parallel to the Earth's surface where appropriate.

Birkeland first advanced this idea following his Arctic expeditions in the early 20th century. At the time, it was considered speculative. Decades later, however, it received direct confirmation. In 1973, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory satellite Triad detected vast sheets of electric current aligned with the auroral zones — flowing downward on the morning side and upward on the evening side, precisely as Birkeland had predicted. Each of these current sheets typically carries on the order of a million amperes or more.

Such currents are not confined to Earth. Enormous Birkeland currents connecting Jupiter and its moon Io were recorded by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979, demonstrating that these electrical connections operate on planetary scales.

On even larger scales, filamentary current structures have been identified near the centre of the Milky Way. In 1984, Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, Don Chance, and Mark Morris, using the Very Large Array radio telescope, discovered an immense arc of radio emission stretching roughly 120 light-years. This structure consists of narrow, elongated filaments — typically a few light-years wide — running its full length. The associated magnetic fields were found to be far stronger than previously expected on such scales, yet strikingly similar in form to those produced in plasma simulations involving current-carrying filaments.

The tendency for current-carrying filaments to interact in pairs is a well-recognised feature of plasma behaviour, sometimes referred to as “doubleness.”

This behaviour follows directly from Ampère’s Law (or equivalently the Biot–Savart law): parallel currents flowing in the same direction attract, while currents in opposite directions repel. Unlike gravity — which is always attractive and decreases with the square of distance — electromagnetic interactions can both attract and repel, and their effects can extend over far greater ranges under the right conditions.

While all matter is subject to gravity, plasma is more strongly affected by EM forces, as is to be expected given its constituent parts — negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions. In fact, the EM force is 10^39 times as strong! Plasma displays structures and motions that are far more complex than those found in neutral solids, liquids, and gases. It has a tendency to form the cellular and filamentary structures under discussion.

The following is quoted from Dr A. Peratt's site

"...But perhaps the most important characteristic of electromagnetism is that it obeys the longest-range force law in the universe."

"When two or more non-plasma bodies interact gravitationally, their force law varies inversely as the square of the distance between them; 1/4 the pull if they are 2 arbitrary measurement units apart, 1/9 the pull for a distance of 3 units apart, 1/16 the pull for 4 units apart, and so on."

"When plasmas, say streams of charged particles, interact electromagnetically, their force law varies inversely as the distance between them, 1/2 the pull if they are 2 arbitrary measurement units apart, 1/3 the pull for a distance of 3 units apart, 1/4 the pull for 4 units apart, and so on. So at 4 arbitrary distance units apart, the electromagnetic force is 4 times greater than that of gravitation, relatively speaking, and at 100 units apart, the electromagnetic force is 100 times that of gravitation."

"Moreover, the electromagnetic force can be repulsive if the streams in interaction are flowing in opposite directions. Thus immense plasma streams measured in megaparsecs, carrying galaxies and stars, can appear to be falling towards nothing when they are actually repelling..."

DLs refer to one of the most important properties of any electrical plasma — its ability to form electrically isolated sections or cells. Because plasma is an outstanding conductor and cannot sustain a high electric field, it self-organises to form a protective sheath (Double Layer) across which most of the electric field is concentrated and where most of the electrical energy is stored (they can act very much like capacitors).

When a foreign object is inserted into a plasma, a DL will form around it, shielding it from the main plasma. This effect makes it difficult to insert voltage sensing probes into a plasma in order to measure any electric potential at a specific location.

Double layers may break down with an explosive release of electrical energy. Hannes Alfvén first suggested that billions of volts could exist across a typical solar flare DL.

Astrophysicists who map magnetic fields and assume there's no electricity in space (or little of any consequence) seem, somewhat inexplicably, to be unaware of their existence. They resort to positing any number of mechanical devices from 'magnetic reconnection' to 'frozen-in magnetic field lines' and more.

The myth of 'frozen-in magnetic fields' still raises its head in the mainstream now and again, despite Alfvén disposing of it many years ago. For years it was assumed that plasmas were perfect conductors and, as such, a magnetic field in any plasma would have to be 'frozen' inside it.

The basic technical reason for this arose from one of Maxwell's equations. It was thought that if all plasmas are ideal conductors they cannot have electric fields (voltage differences) inside them, and that any magnetic fields inside a plasma must therefore be 'frozen', that is unable to move or change in any way.

Thanks to Alfvén we now know that there can be voltage differences between different points in plasmas. He pointed this out in his acceptance speech when receiving the Nobel Prize for physics in 1970. The electrical conductivity of any material, including plasma, is determined by two factors: the density of the population of available charge carriers (the ions) in the material, and the mobility of these carriers. In any plasma, the mobility of the ions is extremely high. Electrons and ions can move around very freely in space. But the concentration of ions available to carry charge may not be at all high if the plasma is very low pressure or diffuse. In short, although plasmas are excellent conductors, they are not perfect. It therefore follows that weak electric fields can exist inside them, and magnetic fields are NOT frozen inside them.

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice." Heinlein's Razor

Like the myth of 'frozen-in magnetic fields', Magnetic Reconnection is another colourful invention of conventional astronomy. It also attempts to account for anomalies arising from the misconception that electric currents do not flow in space.

In reality it is a well-understood plasma phenomenon, relating to exploding double layers and electric discharge. Astronomers have noticed that when magnetic reconnection occurs, there seem to be regions of electron-depleted space associated with it (electric currents). They have also noticed that a two-layer flow of particles is created that speeds the release of energy (double layers).

Don Scott, a retired professor of electrical engineering, explains the issues in more detail here

Magnetars are mathematical models of stars based on 'frozen-in' magnetic fields and 'magnetic reconnection'. Need we say more? The maths may be correct, but this does not guarantee that the models reflect reality.

Plasma cosmologists know that magnetic fields do not stand alone — they are induced by electric currents. There must be an intense electric current feeding the magnetar, and this current must be part of a circuit, as all electric circuits must be closed.

Because plasmas are good, but not perfect, conductors, they are similar to wires in their ability to carry electrical current. It is well known that if any conductor cuts through a magnetic field, a current will flow in that conductor. This is how electrical generators and alternators work.

If there is any relative motion between a cosmic plasma, say in the arm of a galaxy, and a magnetic field in that same location, currents will flow in the plasma. These currents will, in turn, produce their own magnetic fields.

In 1986, Hannes Alfvén postulated electrical models on both galactic and solar scales. Physicist Wal Thornhill has pointed out that Alfvén's circuits are really scaled-up versions of the familiar homopolar motor that serves as the watt-hour meter in many homes. Also, more recently, the interaction of the moon Io with the giant planet Jupiter has been likened to a dynamo.

There is still some discussion as to whether galaxies require electrical power from external sources, but who can now reasonably deny that vast currents flow throughout space? For how much longer can this simple fact be overlooked and denied?

Granted, electric currents in space may be more difficult to measure than magnetic fields, but the 'truth is out there'.

Plasma phenomena are scalable. Their electrical and physical properties remain the same, independent of the size of the plasma. In a laboratory plasma, of course, things happen much more quickly than on, say, galaxy scales, but the phenomena are identical — they obey the same laws of physics.

In other words we can make accurate models of cosmic-scale plasma behaviour in the lab, and generate effects that mimic those observed in space. It has been demonstrated that plasma phenomena can be scaled to fourteen orders of magnitude. (Alfvén hypothesised that they can be scaled to 28 orders or more!)

Electric currents flowing in plasmas produce most of the observed astronomical phenomena that remain inexplicable if we assume gravity and magnetism to be the only forces at work.

A world-renowned electrical engineer, Dr Anthony C. Perratt — a graduate student of Nobel Prize winner Hannes Alfvén — has worked on plasma simulations for many years. See the links page for further details of this leading light in plasma physics.

He has utilised supercomputing capabilities to apply the Maxwell-Lorentz equations (the basic laws governing the forces and interactions of electric and magnetic fields) to huge ensembles of charged particles. He calls this PIC - Particle In Cell simulation. The results are almost indistinguishable from images of actual galaxies.

The study of the dynamics of electrically-conducting fluids, one of many fields pioneered by Alfvén, and perhaps one of his better known contributions within mainstream circles.