File:Discovering Earth’s Third Global Energy Field (SVS14628 - Endurance SEQ2A 4K).webm

English: Conceptual AnimationThis animation shows a collection of particles feeling the pull of gravity competing with the tug of energized electrons. The hot, lightweight electrons would happily escape to space independently, but they’re shackled to the much heavier ions by the ambipolar electric field. These ions feel the force of gravity over a thousand times more than the tiny electrons and try to pull the electrons back toward Earth. But the electrons have so much energy from the ionization process, they continue traveling up along the magnetic field. (This is represented in the animation by the large, white ions swinging downward as the smaller, purple electrons tug upward.)The bidirectional nature of this connection gives the field its name: the ambipolar electric field. Ambi- is a prefix borrowed from Latin to mean “both” and the field’s effects are felt most strongly at the poles.Credit: NASA/Conceptual Image Lab