Not-So-Shocking Lightning Rod Facts For Kids That Explain How They Work

The lightning conductor or lightning rod, made by Benjamin Franklin, is a metal conductor or rod mounted on the top of a building and is connected electrically to the ground by a wire.

This rod protects the building during the events of lighting. When lightning strikes a building, it is attracted to the rod, and the electricity is conducted towards the ground by a wire instead of damaging the structure.

Hence, it does not get passed through the building, avoiding any fire disaster or electrocution. A lightning rod is the only part of a lightning protection system. It is like a very pointed rod of metal that gets attached to the roof.

The rod has one inch of diameter. It connects to a massive amount of copper or aluminum wire about an inch in diameter. The cable is linked to a nearby electrical grid buried underground.

The function of lightning rods is frequently misunderstood. Most people believe that these rods attract lightning; however, they are actually a safety precaution in the event of a lightning strike. These rods are known by many names, like the air terminals, lightning conductors, finials, lightning protectors, or Franklin's lightning rod.

The importance of lightning rods is not only when a strike happens or soon after a stroke occurs, but the strike will occur if the rod is not present. Using a small solid glass ball effectively prevents lighting in ships as glass does not conduct electricity well. It repels lightning and is part of the marine lightning rod.

For millennia, lightning was a riddle, frequently thought to be a divine act. Many mid-eighteenth-century philosophers and scientists assumed but could not demonstrate that lightning is electricity.

We now understand that lightning occurs when an excess of electrical charge accumulates in clouds. When the charge builds up enough, it can be discharged, causing a bolt of lightning to fly from the clouds to the ground.

Lightning rod invention History

Controlling the electrical energy of lighting has always been a challenge for humans. Benjamin Franklin paved the way for the discovery of the lighting rod to make humans stop scarring away from the electrical surge from storm clouds.

The first experiment was conducted under the supervision of physicist Thomas-François Dalibard, who translated several of Franklin's publications from British into French. On May 10, 1752, near Paris, they built a tall iron pole shielded from the ground with liquor bottles and managed to catch sparks from lightning.

Franklin's interest in electricity led him to observe a phenomenon overlooked by several others before him. Benjamin Franklin was flying a kite one day, and it was struck by lightning and burned up, prompting the inventive researcher to question if it was feasible to draw lightning bolts in a certain way.

Then he tried this experiment by tying a metal key from the flying kite. He saw a sharp iron needle could conduct electricity. Then, the charge of the lighting went straightaway down through the string, reaching the keys. This way, he showed the possibility of capturing the lighting using metal joints.

This way, other elements will get spared from getting destroyed. In 1753, one year after this, he installed a pointed lightning rod on a building. He used metal bars of ten meters in length and a platinum or copper tip. This installation of rods helped many people to prevent them from any lightning damage and potential fires.

Working of Lightning rod

Lighting rods are like strike termination devices that provide external protection to the building and structure from the direct impact of lighting.

So because of this purpose, the lighting rods need to get installed at the highest point of a structure, there it can capture the charge and drive the charge safely to the ground.

To capture this charge, the round-tipped rods are made of a metallic body and brass wire, which in turn are connected to electrical conductors of a very low impedance earthing system, which can be less than 10 ohms.

Here the discharge of lighting dissipates.

Due to the vast number of electrical charges present at the base of the ground and on the cloud under conditions such as rain, a high voltage develops between the cloud-earth system.

This high voltage activates the leader descending from the beam, which drills the dielectric air between the cloud to the ground.

The high electric field E (kV / m) that shows up in that zone causes a flow of ascending electrical currents through the body of the opposite sign lightning conductor, instituting an ascending tracer that will match and reconstitute with the descendant leader, catching and unloading it to the ground.

The function of lightning rods got frequently misunderstood. Lightning rods, according to popular belief, 'attract' lightning.

It is more correct to state that lightning rods offer a good low-resistance connection to the earth, transmitting the massive electrical currents generated by lightning strikes. If lightning strikes, the system seeks to securely transfer the dangerous current away from the building and the ground.

The technology can handle the massive electrical current generated by the strike. If the strike makes contact with a substance that is not a great conductor, heat will severely damage the substance. Because the lightning-rod system is an efficient conductor, current can flow to the ground without incurring heat damage.

As you've seen, the goal of Franklin's lightning rods is not to attract lightning; instead, it provides a safe alternative for the lightning bolt to choose. This may appear to be a minor quibble, but it isn't when you realize that lightning rods are only significant when a strike happens or shortly after a strike happens.

How do Lightning rods protect the building

According to the Lightning Protection Institute, a lightning rod system is a mix of highly conductive copper and aluminum elements that provide a low impedance path to ground lightning's harmful charge securely. 'Lightning strikes resulted in $739 million in insurance losses for homeowners'.

The lightning rod is a metallic rod (typically copper) that defends a structure against lightning harm by absorbing flashes and directing their current flow into the ground.

A lightning rod placed at the metal rooftop and connected to the ground gives a conduit for the power in a lightning strike to be funneled into the earth, bypassing the structure and averting damage to persons and property. A lightning rod protects these structures.

Lightning rods are intended to shield a structure from the damage caused by a direct lightning strike. An electrical fire can occur in unprotected buildings because current passes over any conductive material that is present.

Lightning rods are usually set at the tallest point of a building, but they can also be installed anywhere or just on the ground. Those who are not on the roof must be higher than the building.

Mounting a pointed lightning rod must not be attempted by a novice. Lightning Rods of the Current Lightning rods are not obsolete, and many are erected on homes around the country. In reality, effective lightning protection systems contain many lightning rods scattered throughout the structure's top.

Lightning has been a mystery for millennia, with many people believing it to be a heavenly act. Many philosophers and scientists assumed but could not prove that lightning was electricity in the mid-eighteenth century. Lightning occurs when an excess of electrical charge develops in clouds, as we now know.

Components of a lightning protection system

Any lightning protector system will have three main parts, and they are the Rods, the Conductor Cables, and the Ground Rods.

'Air Terminals' or Rods: The tiny vertical protrusions that serve as the 'terminus' for a lightning strike. Rods come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and styles.

A pointed needle, tall, or a smooth, glossy charged metal sphere is usually affixed to the top. Many scientific controversies surround the functionality of different kinds of lightning-pointed rods and the necessity of rods in general.

Conductor Cables: Lightning current is carried through the rods to the inside of the earth via heavy cables (on the right). Cables run along the top and edges of roofs, then around one or more building corners to the ground rod (s).

Ground Rods: Heavy, round, and long rods are buried into the earth very deep, surrounded by a protected structure. The ground rods and conductor cables are the most crucial features of a lightning protection system, as they accomplish the primary goal of safely redirecting lightning current past a structure.

The 'lightning rods,' or the sharp upwards terminals along the margins of roofs, play little role in the system's functionality.