I wrote a paper for a thesis in college about lightning. One of the results of the research revealed that the only way to properly install a grounding rod correctly for whatever purpose you're intending is to drive the thing all the way down into the local water table.
The Statue of Liberty has a grounding rod sunk into the ground underneath it about 100 meters or so. When I was in the military, we had the grounding rod sunk about 150 ft into the ground under the installation and directly in the center of it all. Then, 00 pure copper cable strung under the raised flooring at right angles to each other every meter. The center of the grid was connected to the ground rod. The grid was pristine ground. Both constructions were done for electrical phenomena occuring far outside the locale; one for lightning which its source is at times miles away and naturally refenced to the local water table; the other for electromagnetic phenomena occuring from far away. Both needing a solid reference. For your purposes, measuring electrical phenomena occuring locally within the confines of your lab probably won't show any marked improvement with a ground rod. I dare say, it may even attrach lightning strikes depending upon where you're located. If you are having problems with your ground, or, there's some question about it to which someone is suggesting the fix is a ground rod, try doing some of your own measurements on the electrical ground for the lab. Sometimes it's off depending upon how the electricians connect to the transformer. I've seen a difference of several volts AC in the ground plug of the outlets in labs on more than one occasion. Regards, Doug McKean _________________________________________________________________ Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee® Security. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/listserv/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
