An iron rod...

An iron rod being placed on the outside of a building from the highest part continued down into the moist earth, in any direction strait or crooked, following the form of the roof or other parts of the building, will receive the lightning at its upper end, attracting it so as to prevent it's striking any other part; and, affording it a good conveyance into the earth, will prevent its damaging any part of the building. -- Benjamin Franklin

Thunder is good...

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.-- Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Lightning Strikes The Eiffel Tower

This is an amazing shot of a lightning striking the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower Lighting

Summer tis the season of the ham's nemesis - lightning.  Is your station grounding and lightning protection up to task?

Good DX and 73, NJ2X


Be sure to check out our other lightning related articles on NJ2X.com.

ISS Night Flight - Amazing!

This is positively amazing video footage.  Notice the incredible lightning flashes.

National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN)

Did you know the US has a national network of lightning detectors?

Lighting Strikes

The US has a network of over 100 sensors combining lightning detection, direction finding, and time of arrival techniques into an integrated system.  This network is called the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and it is capable of detecting cloud-to-ground lightning flashes at distances up to 400 km across the contiguous United States and extending hundreds of miles into both oceans and beyond the borders of Canada and Mexico.

Be sure to check out our other lightning related articles here on NJ2X.com.

When thunder roars, go indoors!

When thunder roars, go indoors.

Be safe.  Don't take chances with lightning.

73, NJ2X

So what happens to window line in a lightning strike?

So what happens to window line in a lightning strike?

We had the opportunity to inspect sections of window line that had been subjected to the effects a lightning strike.  Interestingly, the copper wire was completely absent from the plastic.  Copper vampires?

There were a few clues.  The first clue was in the form of copper color specs on the insulation - almost as though it had been lightly and randomly sprayed on by a spray can.  An additional clue was the plastic which showed evidence of violent heating and had two burnt tracks running along where the copper had once been.

All the clues pointed to the copper having been completely vaporized in an instant by the lightning.  This must have been an incredibly violent moment and would have been frightful to witness.  Lightning is an extremely powerful force - it can have 100 million to 1 billion volts, and contains billions of watts.  As lightning passes through air, it can heat the air to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit: about 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun.

We noticed that AE5X had a similar experience which he posted on his blog.



So how often does the Empire State Building get stuck by lightning?

Amazingly, the Empire State Building is struck by lightning, on average, over 100 times a year.  So lightning can and does strick the same place more than once.

Empire State Building Lightning Strike 2006

Can lightning strike an airplane?

This is a rather amazing video of  lightning striking an airplane mid-flight.  The plane and passengers were unaffected.  Lightning can strike and object in mid-air.  In fact, it is a relatively common occurrence for commercial aircraft to be struck by lightning.  Fortunately, all commercial aircraft are designed and equipped with lightning protection.

Lightning Strikes The Eiffel Tower

This is rather amazing picture Lightning striking the Eiffel Tower circa 1902.  Is your station grounding and lightning surpression up to task?

Lightning striking the Eiffel Tower 1902

Visualizing Lightning

NASA maintains a cumulative visualization of global lightning strikes from January 1998 to present day from the NASA/MSFC Lightning Imaging Sensor.  This is a fascinating work and is perhaps compelling enough to motivate a few hams (especially those living in the high strike zones) to improve their station's grounding and lightning protection.