Yeah, I'm always amazed when a farmer has a 100 ft grain leg and lightning will instead hit the 25 ft metal shop bldg. right next to it. Or a tree. Or the house. Or the ground. Or instead of hitting a 250 ft tower, it hits the transformer on the utility pole. Lightning has a mind of its own. Although maybe that last example says the air terminal on the tower was doing its job and the electric company needs some static cats.
In our suburb we have those concrete poles about 5 feet high with street names stenciled on the side. One time lightning struck a tall maple tree on the corner, then jumped out of the tree trunk over to the concrete pole and then to ground, exploding the concrete and leaving just the rebar that was inside. Why jump across the air instead of just continuing down the tree trunk to ground? Who knows. -----Original Message----- From: AF <[email protected]> On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2019 9:24 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [AFMUG] Fw: Active Lightning Suppressor - Snake Oil, or Science? This is from the executive director of the lightning protection institute. -----Original Message----- From: Bud VanSickle Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2019 7:41 AM To: 'Chuck McCown' Subject: RE: [AFMUG] Active Lightning Suppressor - Snake Oil, or Science? Snake oil for sure. You can't stop lightning strikes because of the volume of energy and short time period. If you put one of these devices on a fully grounded metallic tower, it would most likely take a strike to ground. Of course, if you ground your metallic tower properly, it is like a giant lightning rod, so you are out the money for this "topper". By the way, on tall towers, lightning doesn't necessarily strike the top anyway - it is almost never straight vertical and may be at a 45 degree angle to the side. But let me ask you this - if all the pine needles in a forest can release ions (which they can and do) or all the blades of grass on the prairie, why does lightning still strike there? Bud VanSickle -----Original Message----- From: Chuck McCown [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, May 22, 2019 7:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Fw: [AFMUG] Active Lightning Suppressor - Snake Oil, or Science? I think snake oil. You? -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list [email protected] http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
