What if we think of our planet as a spherical capacitor?

Two concentric plates, separated by a dielectric, moving through the volume of space.

Formula to determine the capacitance of a sphere

Using this model, earth ground would be our planet, the insulating dielectric would be the atmosphere, and the second capacitive component (plate) would be the ionosphere.
Capacitors often arc/leak/discharge on the work bench:

Which would mean that there should be a change in electrical potential as we leave earth ground/change observational altitude:

I know it’s more than a little whacky, and way over-simplified, but I keep thinking about the dynamic differences in electrical potential between moving bodies of air and earth ground as well as between the ionosphere and the earth.

I can’t help but wonder since there is enough electromotive force to operate an electroscope, bias a MOSFET, might there not be a way to construct an antenna to at least charge a battery, if not power a city, or the planet, using the power which surrounds us on a planetary and/or a cosmic scale?

If the answers to these questions were easy, or already out there, Big Oil would be out of business, and they are not.

The scale and scope of this line of thinking is mind-boggling and very interesting to me. There is a  recurring common symmetry in Tesla’s drawings, NASA imagery, and models of basic physics which I find intellectually compelling and aesthetically satisfying.  How cool would it be to continually charge super-capacitors through a system of antennas, powering our cities and our homes, by the EMF naturally generated by nature?

Peter Terezakis
ITP
Tisch School of the Arts
http://www.terezakis.com