Charged: The Unexpected Role of Electricity in Nature
Explore the groundbreaking research of Dr. Gerald Pollack on electricity’s fundamental role in biological systems
Early Praise for Charged
Synopsis
What if gravity has an invisible partner — a powerful force that explains why clouds float, what triggers rainfall, and how bugs fly?
Could such a force reside in electrical charge?
Renowned scientist Gerald Pollack, author of The Fourth Phase of Water, returns with a paradigm-shifting exploration into the profound significance of electricity in nature. With clear thinking and crisp writing, partnered with charming illustrations by the author’s son, Ethan Pollack, Charged offers an example of science at its best: identifying straightforward explanations for phenomena we witness every day but don’t really understand.
Topics range from the origins of weather and gravity to how birds and airplanes fly, and how fish swim. You’ll also learn what turns the Earth every 24 hours — and even how sailboats can sail almost directly into the wind.
Please visit our home page to view an outline of topics covered in Charged.
More Praise
Sample Chapter
A Shortcut to the Road Ahead
The key to this book lies in the unexpectedly central role of electrical charge throughout nature. The book will take you on an electrical journey. It will explore how an appreciation of the role of electrical charge might offer a way forward to a simpler and more straightforward understanding of the science of everyday life — the science that lets us understand how the world works.
You might presume you already know how the world works. After all, you regularly think about explanations for natural phenomena. It’s raining — so you surmise that those droplets must be pulled to the earth by gravitation. Suppositions like that can feel satisfying; you’re comforted by your apparent understanding of nature. Who needs any further comprehension?
Yet, even in that seemingly straightforward realm, matters are not so straightforward. A scientific study challenges that simple gravitational interpretation (see Chapter 8): In drawing those raindrops toward the earth’s surface, at work is something beyond just one mass pulling another. To explain the observed high speed of descent, another force must be at play.