What could cause a planet to be highly electrified?
I've created a small planet, about 90% the size of Earth, which orbits a pair of twin dwarf stars and is Earth-like in many respects. This planet's atmosphere is highly electrified, with lightning storms occurring nearly every night.
In fact, this planet's equivalent to plants use electricity to gain energy instead of light, using a process called electrosynthesis (an analogue to photosynthesis). What could possibly have caused my planet to become so intensely electronical?
Please include any details that might be pertinent, any at all, including but not limited to:
- What kind of atmospheric composition could support such a highly electrical world?
- Anything about the planet's situation in its planetary system that might be relevant.
- What kind of temperatures, air pressures and other weather-related factors could contribute to the electricity?
- How about static electricity? Is the planet filled to the brim with balloons and socks?
Any scientifically plausible answers are very much appreciated.
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1 answer
Our universe is large enough that lots of weird things can happen. Believe it or not, we've found quite a few of them on exoplanets. This article about a paper on lightning on exoplanets (Bailey et al. (2014)) talks a bit about lightning in brown dwarfs and planetary atmospheres.
The point of the paper is that certain mineral grains in clouds can make lightning strikes more prevalent. Studies (on Earth) have also shown that volcanic plumes can produce copious amounts of lightning. Therefore, we can extend these theories a bit. I propose a planet with near-constant volcanic activity in at least one part of the globe, as well as strong winds in atmosphere that can move grains from plumes around quickly. If the plumes are strong enough, then perhaps the entire atmosphere could be effected enough to measurably increase the amount of lightning.
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