WELCOME

(A) Lightning Protection Earthing, Static Electricity Protection Earthing, & Audit : (a) What is lightning?Design, Lightning,Practice the thunderbolt from mythology,
has been feared as an atmospheric flash of supernatural origin; the great weapon of the gods. The Greeks marveled and feared lightning as it was hurled by Zeus. For the Vikings, lightning was produced by Thor as his hammer struck an anvil while riding his chariot across the clouds. In the East, early statues of Buddha show him carrying a thunderbolt with arrows at each end. Indian tribes in North America believed that lightning was due to the flashing feathers of a mystical bird whose flapping wings produced the sound of thunder. Today we use a more scientific approach to explain lightning. Lightning is a visible electrical discharge that results from the buildup of positive and negative charges within a thunderstorm. When the buildup is strong enough, lightning appears. This discharge produces a series of brilliant flashes inside clouds, between the clouds, and between the clouds and the ground. The average time interval between each stroke is approximately 0.02 seconds. Each stroke lasts, on average, 0.25 seconds. It is estimated that there are 2,000 thunderstorms occurring on earth at all times. This results in 100 lightning strikes occurring

(b) What causes lightning? Lightning originates in a thunderstorm cloud where charged particles are
separated. There are several theories explaining how they separate, but no one really knows what pulls the charges apart. It is believed that water drops in the cloud become negatively charged and, being heavier, fall to the bottom of the cloud. The positive charges are then swept up to the top of the cloud by the warm updrafts in the thunderhead. As more charges separate, parts of the cloud become so highly charged that the electrical forces tear nearby air molecules apart, making more charged fragments.

Lightning strikes the Eiffel Tower 1906 one of the first photographs of lightning in an urban

(c) How it is formed

Double lightning. The first process in the generation of lightning is the ejection of charged particles from the sun in what is called the solar wind [citation needed]. The Earth acquires an electric charge in its outer atmospheric layers, especially the ionosphere, from these particles. This charge will neutralize itself through any available path. This may assist in the forcible separation of positive and negative charge carriers within a cloud or air, and thus help in the formation of lightning.

Charge separation theories

(d) Polarization mechanism theory The mechanism by which charge separation happens is still the subject of research, but one theory is the polarization mechanism, which has two components: 1.Falling droplets of ice and rain become electrically polarized as they fall through the atmosphere's natural electric field; 2.Colliding ice particles become charged by electrostatic induction.
(e) Electrostatic induction theory Another theory is that opposite charges are driven apart by the above mechanism and energy is stored in the electric fields between them. Cloud electrification appears to require strong updrafts which carry water droplets upward, supercooling

them to -10 to -20 C. These collide with ice crystals to form a soft ice-water mixture called graupel. The collisions result in a slight positive charge being transferred to ice crystals, and a slight negative charge to the graupel. Updrafts drive lighter ice crystals upwards, causing the cloud top to accumulate increasing positive charge. The heavier negatively charged graupel falls towards the middle and lower portions of the cloud, building up an increasing negative charge. Charge separation and accumulation continue until the electrical potential becomes sufficient to initiate lightning discharges.

Lightning

Lightning is a highly visible form of energy transfer.

Lightning

(f) Types of lightning

Some lightning strikes take on particular characteristics; scientists and the public have given names to these various types of lightning.

(1) Intracloud lightning, (2)Sheet lightning, (3)Anvil crawlers (4)Cloud-to-ground lightning, (5) Anvil-to-ground lightning (6)Bead lightning, (7)Ribbon lightning, (8)Staccato lightning (9)Cloud Cloud Lightning (10)Ground Cloud lightning (11) Heat or Summer Lightning (12)Ball Lightning (13) Sprites, elves, jets, and other upper atmospheric lightning

(14)Street Lightning,Triggered Lightning (15) Lightning during vulcanic eruption (16) Rocket lightning

Lightning strike

A bolt of lightning can reach temperatures approaching 28,000 degrees Celsius (50,000 degrees Fahrenheit) in a split second. This is about five times hotter than the surface of the sun. The heat of lightning that strikes loose soil or sandy regions of the ground may fuse the soil or sand into glass channels called fulgurites. These are sometimes found under the sandy surfaces of beaches and golf courses, or in desert regions. Fulgurites are evidence that lightning spreads out into branching
channels when it strikes the ground. Trees are frequent conductors of lightning to the ground (photo of a tree being struck by lightning). Since sap is a poor conductor, its electrical resistance causes it to be heated explosively into steam, which blows off the bark outside the lightning's path. In following seasons trees overgrow the damaged area and may cover it completely, leaving only a vertical scar. If the damage is severe, the tree may not be able to recover, and decay sets in, eventually killing the tree. Occasionally, a tree may explode completely, as in this Giant Sequoia struck in Geneva [8]. It is commonly thought that a tree standing alone is more frequently struck, though in some forested areas, lightning scars can be seen on almost every tree. Of all common trees the most frequently struck is the oak. It has a deep central root that goes beneath the tree, as well as hollow water-filled cells that run up and down the wood of the oak's trunk. These two qualities make oak trees better grounded and more conductive than trees with

shallow roots and

closed cells.

Old lightning scar

(B) 'Static' electricity Static electricity is a class of phenomena involving objects with a net charge; typically referring to charged objects with voltages of sufficient magnitude to produce visible attraction, repulsion, and electrical sparks. Static electricity can be a serious nuisance in the processing of analog recording media, because it can attract dust to sensitive materials. In the case of photography, dust accumulating on lenses and photographic plates degrades the resulting picture. Dust also permanently damages vinyl records because it can be embedded into the grooves as the stylus passes over. In both cases, several approaches exist to combat such dust deposition. Some brushes, particularly those with carbon fiber bristles, are advertised as possessing anti-static properties. Also available are handheld static guns which shoot streams of ions to discharge static on records and lenses. Note that the presence of electric current does not detract from the electrostatic forces nor from the sparking, from the corona discharge, or other phenomena. Both phenomena can exist simultaneously in the same system. Static electricity is an important element in the biological process of by bees, since the charge on a bee's body helps to attract and hold pollen.