Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting Human Body to Earth's Electrons
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Even if you're insulated, shouldn't your whole body potential sum to zero internally anyway? And shouldn't any bioelectrical fields be invariant under ground potential? (probably messed up the terminology there)
I remember that van de Graaff generator experiment that charges your entire body and makes your hair stand up. Assuming you run around for weeks charged (positively or negatively) like that, would this cause any physiological dysfunction?
The Earth can be thought of as an anode, and the Sun - as a cathode. But the Earth as an electron source is obviously different than a van de Graaff generator, hence possible differences in current it produces.
You won't be able "to run around charged for weeks", because as soon as you contact a conductive surface or +charge careers, you drain the accumulated surface electrons.
E.g. this paper https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2011.0820 (sponsored by Earth FX, Palm Spring, CA whose CEO Clint Ober peddles earthing products *wink*) claims that earthing reduces blood viscosity by increasing the "zeta potential" (outside of my specialty, but I read it as being proportional to intercellular repulsive force) of red blood cells. But surely this can't work because when increasing the "base charge" of the body, then the charges of all its constituents should move with it and the charge differences between cells (and the energy required to keep them up) should stay the same, right?
> You won't be able "to run around charged for weeks"
The "running around" part is unfortunately worded. Assume we would ensure this experimentally by keeping the subject insulated and/or recharging regularly (could be mice in a cage too, I guess).