Re: Lightning & Bathtubs

On Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:05:23 -0500, bud-- wrote:

That is totally untrue. Lightning is static electricity, its going to
behave differently than your standard A/C 3-phase loop. This is like
saying because you have a lightning rod, you won't get struck by
lightning. The only thing a lightning rod means is you are less likely
to get struck, but if you do, it will be right in the rod.

So a "properly bonded and grounded" house will be less likely to get
struck, but if it is, it will be right in the "bond and ground."

I read gfretwell as saying that with proper bonding there won't be
damaging voltage between parts of the electrical system. Like a "bird on
a wire", or perhaps 2 birds on the same wire that touch each other. With
proper grounding (earthing), the voltage of the system to 'earth' is
minimized. [But for protection from a direct strike to a house you need
lightning rods.]


The bird on the wire analogy is bad. The bird is not "grounded" and
neither is the wire. So what in this analogy is grounded?

Myhtbusters disconnected grounding (earthing) so there was dangerous
voltage between the system and 'earth'. [The mythbusters earthing was
probably much more effective than a house.]


A lightning strike results when static builds up. Grounding the house,
and creating sharp pointy objects into the air is a way for the static
charge to leak off and disipate. However, if the build up is really
quick, then the lightning strike will be right in the same place that was
leaking off the static. The lightning rod.



Far as I have read, lightning rods do not reduce the probability of a
building being struck by lightning (although some manufacturers make
that claim).

A lightning rod is like a hole in a dam. They allow the charge to leak
through reducing the static electricity pressure. However, just as in a
dam, if the hole is not enough, then the burst will occur right at the
hole.


.

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