Visualization of the experiment in Barakim prisons (Photo: Scientify/University of Geneva)
Conductive iron rods have been used as lightning arresters since the days of Benjamin Franklin, and everyone knows the role of an arca (did you know? Earthing is a verb, arca is a noun), but due to their design limitations, it is difficult to protect large areas with lightning arresters, Like for example the launch pads of space rockets - where relatively complicated systems of metal wires are required to protect the body of the spacecraft from damage during lightning storms.
Now, European researchers have found a possible and quite high-tech solution: lasers.
They successfully tested a system that uses a high power (terawatt) laser to direct lightning into a metallic lightning rod about 8 meters high, which was erected for the purpose of the experiment.
But the laser is also suitable for the use of higher lightning rods, which will be able to cover large areas.
The area covered in the experiment with the current lightning rod, covered an area of 180 square meters.
How It Works?
The development ionizes nitrogen and oxygen molecules, releasing electrons that form an electrically conductive plasma.
The special laser "shoots" at a high speed of 1,000 pulses per second and is thus also able to capture lightning in its various forms.
In the experiment, conducted between June and September 2021, lightning followed the beam for a distance of 60 meters before hitting the metal antenna.
The special laser is also able to capture lightning in its various forms (Photo: Reuven Castro)
The technique of guiding lightning with lasers has been researched for years, but was often limited in distance and ability to pulse at high speed, leading to misses and lightning that "ran away".
This time the difference is that the pulse frequency was a hundred times greater.
However, those who think that it will soon be possible to deploy such standards everywhere, and to prevent incidents like the tragedy that happened this week in Kibbutz Ogan, may be deluded.
The laser they used in the experiment is not cheap at all - its cost is 2.17 billion dollars.
However, the researchers plan to increase the coverage area, where an 11-meter pole will cover an area of about 500 square meters.
So we may not see such sophisticated lightning protection systems everywhere, but the very discovery paves the way for protection installations in sensitive places for those who can afford it. To purchase an expensive laser, like state bodies, so that it will be possible to use it to protect launch pads of spacecraft, airports or power facilities - places where a lightning strike may pose a significant danger.
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