[TowerTalk] static bleed & lightning discharge

[Jim Lux]

At 02:36 PM 3/18/2005, j4976 at juno.com wrote:
>I thought that the point of a lightning rod or similar device was that a
>house being a poor conductor, if hit, gets hit by a huge charge.  By
>putting up a lightning rod which is a good conductor with a good path to
>ground, the lightning can discharge earlier as a smaller charge, and
>hopefully do less damage.

Nope.. the idea is to conduct the huge current to the ground by means of 
something that won't explode, spall, burst into flames, or kill 
someone.  They are basically a fire prevention mechanism. The amount of 
charge is probably totally unaffected by the presence or absence of a 
lightning rod (especially since that lightning rod is a tiny little pimple 
in the context of the charged area of the thunderstorm responsible for the 
flash.. some km in diameter)




>On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 17:20:48 -0500 "Jim Jarvis" <jimjarvis at comcast.net>
>writes:
> >
> > EWR 10 years ago.  Once our hearing recovered from the thunder
> > clap, Cap'n came on the intercom and said, Folks,
> > that surely was exciting, but it was only a static discharge,
> > we weren't hit by lightning, not to worry...

That's "spin", like the "freak vortex wind phenomenon" that touched down 
inside Disneyland (in Anaheim, CA) a few years ago.  Nope.. no tornadoes at 
the happiest place on earth, nosiree, can't happen, won't allow it.