system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can you generate electricity from the earths magnetic field?

This has always been a curiosity of mine.

As people know, if you move a conductor through a magnetic field, a voltage is produced across the conductor and a current will flow as a result, all proportional to length of conductor, field strength, etc.. 
Classic generator theory. 

Now, this is where I'm confused. 
I'm pretty sure of my theory, but need some reddit advice! Here goes-

The earths magnetic field runs north-south (or vice versa, I don't know), right? 
So, if you string up a long piece of wire in front of you spanning East-West, and dropped the wire parallel to the ground, will a voltage be produced on the ends of the conductor from the wire cutting through the earths magnetic field? 

I understand the energy produced will be absolutely miniscule at the most, but is my theory true? 
Ive thought of a couple concepts to aid with the efficiency by using an electronic compass to stay perpendicular and using sustainable kinetic energy for the movement of the conductor.



But, really-


...Will it work?
gpt
Yes you can and it has been done before. In the space industry, an alternate way of generating electricity is to have a conductive tether that can generate electricity because it is a piece of wire moving at +8km/s through the magnetic field as opposed to using solar panels. It is rarely used because it degrades your orbit tremendously but it is an alternative for certain missions in low earth orbit that have a very low mission duration, low power requirements and low budget.