Using the Earth as a battery

Hindian wrote:

What about the ionosphere. Lots of charged particles there. If
there
was some way to tap into the ionosphere, would that mean free flow of
electricity to the earth?

The magnetic field around earth can and has been used to produce
electricity by tethers. A HUGE amount can be produced... the drawback
is that it saps the kinetic energy of the vehicle you're producing
electricity for. So it's a trade off.

Dave