Io

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/00current.htm

Since the two Voyager space probes discovered "surprising volcanic activity" on Io, plasma physicist Wal Thornhill predicted that the plumes erupting from the so-called "volcanic vents" would be hotter than any lava fields ever measured. His prediction was confirmed when it was found that the "caldera" around the vents exceeded temperatures of 2000 Celsius.

Io orbits close in to Jupiter, so intense electromagnetic radiation bombards its surface, removing approximately one ton per second in gases and other materials. Io acts like an electrical generator as it travels through Jupiter’s plasmasphere, inducing over 400,000 volts across its diameter at more than three million amperes. That tremendous current flows across its magnetic field into the electric environment of Jupiter.

The plumes seen erupting from Io are the result of cathode arcs, electrically etching the surface and blasting sulfur dioxide "snow" up to 150 kilometers into space.

[Swede]

1. Ow.

I never would have thought of ac current as the cause of lava. Thanks for posting.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. That's because they're not.

It's tidal forces.

Due to Jupiter's force of gravity.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. What?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. Yes, that's Io.

It's close to a big planet called Jupiter. Jupiter's so big, it has lots and lots of gravity.

This has what's called a tidal effect on Io. Jupiter pulls more on the parts of Io that are closer to Jupiter than the parts that are far away. This causes Io to stretch, and relax. Like the sun does to earth's oceans with the tides and all. Because of all that movement, the rock heats up. Melts. And you get volcanoes.

Io does not actually generate electricity.

[Gman]

7. I found an old astronomy book that I had in grade school

some 45 years ago or more now. It had artist renditions of what they thought at the time the planets looked like. I don't think they could even conceive of Io as anything more than a point of light circling Jupiter at the time. Pics like this still send me into amazement and awe that we can even do this.

[Fumesucker]

11. Chesley Bonestell certainly had a vivid imagination for planets..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesley_Bonestell

Saturn as seen from Mimas.

[Swede]

5. Right from the article.

The most probable cause, based on observational evidence and laboratory analysis, is that Io is receiving an electrical input from Jupiter that is heating it up through electromagnetic induction.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. The article is not a scientific article.

Rather it is just a collection of made up claptrap from the "Electric Universe" conspiracy theory.

Which posits that the craters on the moon are caused by lightning, the sun is a big electrode, comets are big electrical sparks, and ancient aliens visited to earth to give racial minorities their advanced technology such as stone-working.

The OP is really into this electric universe stuff.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Oh yeah....

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. Something from wiki and Nasa

spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/weekly/5Page47.pdf

The satellite of Jupiter, Io,
is a volcanically active moon
that ejects 1,000 kilograms of
ionized gas into space every
second. This gas forms a torus
encircling Jupiter along the orbit
of Io. We will estimate the total
mass of this gas based on data
from the NASA Cassini and
Galileo spacecraft.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)

Io plays a significant role in shaping the Jovian magnetic field. The magnetosphere of Jupiter sweeps up gases and dust from Io's thin atmosphere at a rate of 1 tonne per second.<50> This material is mostly composed of ionized and atomic sulfur, oxygen and chlorine; atomic sodium and potassium; molecular sulfur dioxide and sulfur; and sodium chloride dust.<50><51> These materials ultimately have their origin from Io's volcanic activity, but the material that escapes to Jupiter's magnetic field and into interplanetary space comes directly from Io's atmosphere. These materials, depending on their ionized state and composition, ultimately end up in various neutral (non-ionized) clouds and radiation belts in Jupiter's magnetosphere and, in some cases, are eventually ejected from the Jovian system.

Surrounding Io (up to a distance of 6 Io radii from the moon's surface) is a cloud of neutral sulfur, oxygen, sodium, and potassium atoms. These particles originate in Io's upper atmosphere but are excited from collisions with ions in the plasma torus (discussed below) and other processes into filling Io's Hill sphere, which is the region where the moon's gravity is predominant over Jupiter. Some of this material escapes Io's gravitational pull and goes into orbit around Jupiter. Over a 20-hour period, these particles spread out from Io to form a banana-shaped, neutral cloud that can reach as far as 6 Jovian radii from Io, either inside Io's orbit and ahead of the satellite or outside Io's orbit and behind the satellite.<50>

The collisional process that excites these particles also occasionally provides sodium ions in the plasma torus with an electron, removing those new "fast" neutrals from the torus. However, these particles still retain their velocity (70 km/s, compared to the 17 km/s orbital velocity at Io), leading these particles to be ejected in jets leading away from Io.<52>

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. ICP stands for more than inductively coupled plasma.