23 Jun
2009
23 Jun
'09
6:15 a.m.
nescivi wrote:
On Monday 22 June 2009 20:44:05 TheOther wrote:
Lightning rods. I think they not attracted and channeled lighting bolts,
they also helped leak charges from the athmosphere to the ground before
they became strong enough to generate a bolt.
Probably Wikipedia has a useful article on the subject.
--
David
gnome(a)hawaii.rr.com
authenticity, honesty, community
david wrote:
The opposite works though. Tesla was allegedly quite succesfull at attracting
strange weather conditions around his lab, with all his magnets.
But yeah, unplugging the laptop as the thunderstorm was closing in might have
helped.
Also, as far as I know, high buildings usually have thunder-antenna's (? not
sure of the English word; though I just read that Benjamin Franklin invented
them) which are supposed to catch lightning for you and bring it to ground, so
that lower (parts of the) buildings in the surroundings are not as likely to
get caught. Not much protects against lightning. Even
unplugging from the mains
might not - lightning is powerful enough to jump across insulator gaps.
Very true,
David. I don't know of *anything* that will stop lightning
directly.