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Highspeed video of lightning hitting common buildings
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Video Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbQtqsolWjs
Since the time of Benjamin Franklin, no one has ever recorded high-speed video images of a lightning connection to a common building. It is very difficult to do: Cameras need to be very close to the structure chosen to be observed and a long observation time is required to register one lightning strike to a particular structure. Models and theories used to determine the zone of protection of a lightning rod have been developed but they all suffer from the lack of field data. • Now, a new study in Geophysical Research Letters provides results from high-speed video observations of lightning attachment to low buildings that are commonly found in almost every populated area around the world. These videos show in slow motion the moment when the down-coming leader of the lightning strike connects to the upward leader initiated from the tip of the lightning rods of twin buildings in São Paulo City, Brazil. • The proximity of the camera and the high frame rate allowed the authors to see interesting details that will improve the understanding of the attachment process and, consequently, the models and theories used by lightning protection standards. • Read the full paper here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10... • Credit: Saba et al.
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