Re: O/T Question - What are the purpose of lightni

Posted by KEB on April 05, 2007 at 19:56:33 from (72.19.170.5):

In Reply to: Re: O/T Question - What are the purpose of lightni posted by NE IA Dave on April 05, 2007 at 16:41:48:

Dave,

What you saw is a perfect example of what happens when a lightning rod is not properly grounded, either because the ground wire has degraded over time, been broken at some time in the past, or was never installed properly in the first place. The lightning followed the conductor until it hit a high impedance point, then flashed to the structure where it continued on to ground. Exactly what it would be expected to do if the ground wire for the lightning rod was broken.

Lightning rods have absolutely nothing to do with controlling static. You analogy of holding a grounded wire is only partly correct. Having an electrical connection to ground does keep static charges from building up on your body - in fact, people who work on sensitivie electronics use a wrist strap for that very purpose. In the case of a lightning rod on top of a building, there's very little to create static charges, basically just triboelectric charging as a result of dust being blown against the rod or building. Accumulation of charge on a relatively small object such as a lightning rod would have a negligible effect on any lightning strike.

Keith

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