consider the earth/atmosphere/ionosphere as an equivalent RC circuit with a total resistance of 230 ohm and a total capacitance of 2.9F. The system would be essentially discharged in a time of about 6 RC time constants (=98.4% discharged).
a) How long does this amount of discharge take in hours?
b)If the potential difference from ground to ionosphere is maintained at 240 kilo volt, what is the discharge current in the atmosphere?
c) what rate of work must be performed on the atmosphere to sustain the discharge current?