(2018-10-19, 16:00)allsorts Wrote: Like those, espeically the first showing why one station will see a strike but one not that far away won't.
One comment decide if it's going to be and Air/Earth capacitor or an Earth/Air one.
Heh... Good point, Dave... I'll update, and 'standardize'.... with something...
![Lightning Lightning](https://forum.blitzortung.org/images/smilies/lightning.png)
There's a 'concept' called the Earth Ionosphere Capacitor (EIC) ... but it doesn't account for or disregards many of the effects of atmospheric charge...
So the "Atmospheric Capacitor" is a bit more valid.... and I do not think there is a 'standard' name for this affect.... best way I've discovered
is to call lit the "Earth-Atmosphere Capacitor"... since the actual 'upper plate' is really not defined and probably can't be, more or less a 'virtual' plate.....
since so many variables determine it' content, height, thickness', position...appear to determine its 'structure'... etc.... So I tried to use all three 'variations' within
the graphic... Earth-Atmosphere, Earth - Air, Air-earth ,,, Since E Probe uses 'earth' as 'plate, I may go with "Earth-Atmosphere" to distinguish dramatically from the
"Earth Ionosphere Capacitor' hypothesis....
For me, the important part is that the Probe tends to act as a 'mini-duplicate' of the instantaneous Ion, proton, electron,whatever, 'charges' within that 'virtual' capacitor, rather than as a VLF antenna...
... even using the term "mirror" could be misleading, since the 'image' isn't a 'mirror' necessarily (reversed), more of a 'copy'...
ADDENDA: Modified using "Earth / Atmosphere" as ref.
Thanks, Dave...
Mike