Editing Dust devil (section)

== Electrical activities ==
Dust devils, even small ones, can produce radio noise and electrical fields greater than 10,000 volts per meter.<ref>{{cite press release | publisher=University of California, Berkeley | date=29 May 2002 | title= Stalking Arizona dust devils helps scientists understand electrical, atmospheric effects of dust storms on Mars | url=http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2002/05/29_dust.html | access-date=2006-12-01}}</ref> A dust devil picks up small dirt and dust particles. As the particles whirl around, they become electrically charged through contact or frictional charging ([[Triboelectric effect|triboelectrification]]). The whirling charged particles also create a magnetic field that fluctuates between 3 and 30 times each second.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Houser|first1=Jeffrey G.|last2=Farrell|first2=William M.|last3=Metzger|first3=S. M.|date=2003|title=ULF and ELF magnetic activity from a terrestrial dust devil|url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2001GL014144|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|language=en|volume=30|issue=1|page=1027|doi=10.1029/2001GL014144|bibcode=2003GeoRL..30.1027H|s2cid=134000306|issn=1944-8007|access-date=2020-11-06|archive-date=2021-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211022055333/https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2001GL014144|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

These electric fields may assist the vortices in lifting material off the ground and into the atmosphere. Field experiments indicate that a dust devil can lift 1&nbsp;gram of dust per second from each square metre (10&nbsp;lb/s from each acre) of ground over which it passes. A large dust devil measuring about 100&nbsp;metres (330&nbsp;ft) across at its base can lift about 15 metric tonnes (17 short tons) of dust into the air in 30&nbsp;minutes. Giant dust storms that sweep across the world's deserts contribute 8% of the mineral dust in the atmosphere each year during the handful of storms that occur. In comparison, the significantly smaller dust devils that twist across the deserts during the summer lift about three times as much dust, thus having a greater combined impact on the dust content of the atmosphere. When this occurs, they are often called '''sand pillars'''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kok|first=J.F.|author2=Renno, N.O.|year=2006|title=Enhancement of the emission of mineral dust aerosols by electric forces|url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95661/1/grl21575.pdf|journal=Geophysical Research Letters|volume=33|issue=Aug. 28|pages=L19S10|bibcode=2006GeoRL..3319S10K|doi=10.1029/2006GL026284|hdl=2027.42/95661 |doi-access=free}}<!--| access-date = 2006-12-01 --></ref>