Icey Junior semi technical...electrons that build up in one spot cause an attraction to opposite charges. The opposite charge (positive or negative) can build up over a surface and cling. The more that build, the greater the potential, leading to a discharge when they collide with the opposing charge. A needle point tip has so little surface area that hardly any charge can cling to the surface and as fast as the electrons build, they are pulled off in a stream call ion jets. This constant stream is like an open pipe that does not allow pressure to build and be potentially (potential energy) released cataclysmically. This why it’s call potential energy or in this case, “static” electricity. Meaning it’s energy that’s stationary (static) until it’s de-energized. Imagine inflating a balloon and popping it. That’s the same principle as static electricity being released. If you had a large hole in the balloon, it would not inflate. That’s essentially what a lighting rod does. It’s a pressure release for static build up.
Growing Answers hmmmmmph ... okay so the way I understand is... 1) the tip of the “needle” is almost always positive as it is grounded (along with your surface area explanation)... this makes the tip to be positively charged, which attract electrons from the cloud and neutralized with each other. Meanwhile the nearby thunderstorm, which is negatively charged, move some of its electrons to the now positively charged cloud. The process continues. 2)Even is the thunderstorm strikes the “needle”, it is still safe as it is already grounded. (Most people thought this is the major function of a lightning rod, which really isn’t about thunderstorm striking the lightning rod.) Yes?
Icey Junior the rod doesn’t attract lighting. It just bleeds off the the static charge. If a door knob or a car had a needle point sticking off it, you wouldn’t get shocked when you touch it. Or at least very little shock. Lighting can still hit a rod, but the discharge would be less. And yes, it can provide a path to ground. However, lighting can jump to other sources too even if it had a wire to follow to ground.
@GrowingAnswers What they don't understand is how the electrons can float through empty space. They are unaccustomed to the idea of electrical plasma. I think you just take it for granted. The plasma can still be there even when it's not glowing like it does in a mercury vapor lamp. Oh, don't forget about the plasma ball.
I was trying to explain how lighting rods work to my son, and I found your video. It is tremendously helpful and you are a good teacher! Thank you for making this video it helped us both ☺️
Excellent demonstration. It works the way I thought it did -- not by actually getting struck by lightning/spark, but by bleeding off the static charge so a strike/spark does not happen. But I wasn't absolutely sure until I saw your demonstration. Thank you very much. It also explains why Benjamin Franklin wasn't electrocuted when he demonstrated the nature of lightning with the key attached to a kite.
Unfortunately this is a load of nonsense. Lightning rods are part of a lightning protection system and are designed to prevent damage caused by high intensity lightning strikes. There is no conclusive evidence that the bleeding effect seen here actually occurs in such a system, there are however many videos of lightening rods being hit by lightening and doing the job they were intended for.
Uh if you live in places that get lots of storms you should probably have one. We get storms about 8 months out of the year and our house was struck by lightning 2 years ago. I didn't have lightning rods then but wish I had. The whole house had to be rewired. It completely melted the wiring and took out the cable lines and phone lines. Not to mention TV's, computers etc that were plugged in were fried. We had new wiring installed and then I installed lightning rods and a whole house surge protector. Now I know that if that ever happens again all of the electronics and wiring in the house will be protected. If you are tech savey you can do the install yourself for around 700 bucks but expect to pay 1,500 plus to have it done. I can tell you that even the 1,500 is nothing compared to what I had to pay to have the house rewired. We are talking around 9,000 dollars to have new 200 amp service and all new wiring, outlets, lights and switches. You live and you learn I guess.
***** Lets say you are caught in a thunderstorm while on top of a hill in a big open field or on a golf course or something like that. Would your odds of being struck by lightning decrease significantly if you hold up a big metal spike with a very sharp tip? It sounds like this could seriously protect you but it also seems counter-intuitive according to popular belief.
***** I would take the rod over the sphere any day. A sphere with a large surface will collect charge. I suspect the cylindrical surface of a large spike would also collect charge but if the charge can dissipate out the point fast enough then that would still be better than the sphere. I could see the needle palm being used on golf umbrellas. A metal baseball bat is large, metal, and smooth all around. I bet sticking a tiny pointed nub at the end of it would help to make it a little safer too. From what I hear, baseball bats actually are dangerous in storms. For the record, I am posting this for the fun of science and I have no plans to actually experiment with these ideas in real life. But if I ever feel my hair stand up like I am about to be struck, I probably will check my pockets for sharp objects like a pocket knife point, pen, small nail, or pointed key, and hold onto it tightly pointed side up while lying flat and low on the ground.
***** Lets start a development partnership! I'm making a prototype as we speak. The concept is there we just need to make it safe for people and property considering that it is a ball of spikes and all. I'll let you do the testing - first with your spark generator then with real lightning. haha Kickstarter here we come... lol.
If you have a ham radio CB or TV antenna on the highest point on the house and you don't want lightning to strike it, is it better to make the top of the antenna form a sharp point?
Perhaps search lightning rod rolling sphere protection zone. Rolling an imaginary ball of some radius on the ground and up against the lightning rod defines the protection zone. The area between the ball and where the ball touches the rod and ground is protected.
Hi there, Im building a 22 meter high water tower in my farm and I appreciate the info. If I understand correctly from your video , all I have to do is put a galvanized steel rod like an antenna on top of my tower? Should i connect it with a copper wire and run it into the earth? pls help. Thank uu
Yes. any rod that is point should be ok. It actually can be more effective to have multiple little spike in a cluster. Like a chimney sweep brush head. And yes youll want to run it to ground and attach it to a rod driven 8ft down.
50 square mm aluminum cable also acceptable but i would suggest to use a copper cable with 70 mm square and you need to dig minimum 8 feet and use proper copper plate or rod with grounding compound.
MC Drex attached to a tv in a house, no. But if it was outside, sure I guess to some extent if used in place of a regular one. I don't think just one will do it though.
A telecommunication tower (about 50m tall) is located like just 30 yards away from a house that my sister just bought and she's planning to live there in a couple of months. We were told by the community there that during thunderstorm electronic devices and appliances in the residential houses located near the tower will get damaged if they are being plugged. We live a in 3rd world country so you know telecommunication companies can get away with stuff like this as long as they signed a huge contract with the government. Anyway can you explain the science behind that? And what can she do about it to prevent surge in her electrical circuits that can damage her electronics? (I did tell my sister that she will have to at least have a device called SPD installed in the electrical panel by an electrician before she lives in that house).
The answer is very simple in this case ,first thing is the radio tower is not properly grounded (complaint about this to government authority ) also you need to ground your house wiring properly (dig little bit around three meter then install a proper ground rod or plate and fill with earthing compound ) ,what actually happened in your sisters house ,when ever lightning is hitting the tower ,it will direct the energy to the earth outer surface instead of passing in to inner core of the earth ,as it was not properly grounded a fraction of second the near earth outer surface will have this energy and your sisters house is not properly grounded so that the energy is in the earth is passing to your electric appliance through your house wiring earth connection's only will help you if the energy is transferring to your house through the electric lines but i think in your case the energy is coming to your house through the house wiring earth (for this also a solution is available now)
Would do the same thing. And be more effective with high voltages. Think of it like water volume. The more branches off of a running water pipe, more water volume bleeds out until the pressure gets so low it just trickles out of all of them. Water pressure in a single pipe = voltage amount in this case. Static power/voltage can be compared to static water pressure.
I saw it with my own eyes first I saw a white sparkle thing near my house is in front of my house gate then I hear a very loud sound. Good thing that my house has a lightning rod.
4:50 - 'I'm getting a little afraid of it'... ...Don't be tempted to try this with a leyden jar attached, you won't regret it! Mine has bitten me once now, scared the living daylights out of me, and that was before it was fully charged. I have a lot more respect for the apparatus now: ruclips.net/video/XjP8F1iRmDc/видео.html
Not a whole lot... ? :)) I guess, it depends on where you live. They're mandatory in Germany. All buildings, all elevated, exposed structures, where people live or every elevated structure that could catch fire and thus cause a lots of damages to its surrounding neighbourhood and pose a threat to human lives has to have a lightning conductor. Also statuary and even trees can be equipped with a lightning conductor, though it's not obligatory. In other words: we ALL have lightning rods. I couldn't even think of the carelessness to have none. ;)
It bleeds electricity from the cloud to the ground. And you don't get used to electricity. No such process. And there's something wrong with your belt or rollers, as there should be longer and stronger arcs from that size ball. Those are too weak to shock anyway, The nail is bleeding electricity from the ball to you in a steady flow instead of arcs except when you bring the nail up to alnost tuoch then I hear the sound of very short small arcs. And you can't feel the belt current because it's too weak. And a thunderstorm is a natural combination of a vdg AND a Tesla coil. Thunderstorms generate both DC and AC lightbing arcs. And the best protection from lightning-caused fires is good grounding components and non-flammable building components, rather than lightning rods.
david sul getting used to the electricity isn’t a direct comment. simply put, it’s the same as saying how used to being frightened you can get in a short period of time. You can only be scared or surprised by someone so many times within a short time before you are used to it and it no longer bothers you. Most people would be scared to touch this thing when they see how big the sparks are (and this video is a poor demo of that) in real life. But once they get shocked a few times they would realize it’s not that bad, it’s mostly the surprise and adrenaline that they feel, but the shock itself isn’t as painful as they would portray it to be from the first shock or two. However after I put the rubber tubing along the rim of the terminal, it made the shocks a lot more powerful and getting shocked 100 times in the same spot causes welts. that’s what you see in the other video.
+Random Ryan Putting rbber tubing along the rim stopped the leaking of charge from along the narrow anglular edge of the ball's fitter. That only added a slight increase in capacitance.and arc length. So you feel it a little more. And you don't have any burns or blisters at the sites of repeated arcs to you skin. It's not enought current to cause burns or blisters. And you have welts rather than little pink spots at those sites. So you have delicate skin. And in your video you used a lower light level to make the arcs look brighter in the video. But be aware that prolonged or excessive presence of electrical currents in the body will cause damage to neural synapses.
hey this is very cool but you do realize that even low voltage electricity can damage your heart? the effects of electrocution are cumulative so bro, probably not a good idea.
JDT738126 it's 300,000-500,000 volts at 60 micro amps. People get shocked by static discharge often. lightning, yes. This, no. Size this up then yes. Beyond 700,000 volts from these and the amps increase. The amps are what kill not volts. high voltage with minor amps is like shooting someone with a rubber band at high speed. Stings a little, but won't ever be lethal. High amps and low volts is like shooting someone with a rubber band that's 20ft long unstretched and weighs 200lb. Doesn't even have to move fast cuz the sheer weight of it will be enough to kill. amps equals mass and volts equals speed.
I thought your presentation was poor. #1 The entire reference to a Van DeGraaf device is unnecessary. The device is not evident in a lightning strike. As for the rest, I am just going to watch a better explanation.
This demonstration is physically wrong. To be fair the conceptual explanation is correct. The problem comes when you put the numbers on it. You are representing a thunderstorm with a Generator and a Lightning Rod with a nail. The proportion of a thunderstorm to an air terminal its not equal to the proportion of that Generator to a nail. It’s dumb to think you can prevent lightning.
Still don’t understand the bleeding part... can you explain it with technical terms...
Icey Junior semi technical...electrons that build up in one spot cause an attraction to opposite charges. The opposite charge (positive or negative) can build up over a surface and cling. The more that build, the greater the potential, leading to a discharge when they collide with the opposing charge. A needle point tip has so little surface area that hardly any charge can cling to the surface and as fast as the electrons build, they are pulled off in a stream call ion jets. This constant stream is like an open pipe that does not allow pressure to build and be potentially (potential energy) released cataclysmically. This why it’s call potential energy or in this case, “static” electricity. Meaning it’s energy that’s stationary (static) until it’s de-energized.
Imagine inflating a balloon and popping it. That’s the same principle as static electricity being released. If you had a large hole in the balloon, it would not inflate. That’s essentially what a lighting rod does. It’s a pressure release for static build up.
Growing Answers hmmmmmph ... okay so the way I understand is...
1) the tip of the “needle” is almost always positive as it is grounded (along with your surface area explanation)... this makes the tip to be positively charged, which attract electrons from the cloud and neutralized with each other. Meanwhile the nearby thunderstorm, which is negatively charged, move some of its electrons to the now positively charged cloud. The process continues.
2)Even is the thunderstorm strikes the “needle”, it is still safe as it is already grounded. (Most people thought this is the major function of a lightning rod, which really isn’t about thunderstorm striking the lightning rod.)
Yes?
Icey Junior the rod doesn’t attract lighting. It just bleeds off the the static charge. If a door knob or a car had a needle point sticking off it, you wouldn’t get shocked when you touch it. Or at least very little shock. Lighting can still hit a rod, but the discharge would be less. And yes, it can provide a path to ground. However, lighting can jump to other sources too even if it had a wire to follow to ground.
@@GrowingAnswers k
@GrowingAnswers What they don't understand is how the electrons can float through empty space. They are unaccustomed to the idea of electrical plasma. I think you just take it for granted. The plasma can still be there even when it's not glowing like it does in a mercury vapor lamp. Oh, don't forget about the plasma ball.
thank u for getting shocked for our knowledge dude
Very interesting. Thanks I was looking for a video that could explain this to my kids. This was great!
I was trying to explain how lighting rods work to my son, and I found your video. It is tremendously helpful and you are a good teacher! Thank you for making this video it helped us both ☺️
Excellent demonstration. It works the way I thought it did -- not by actually getting struck by lightning/spark, but by bleeding off the static charge so a strike/spark does not happen. But I wasn't absolutely sure until I saw your demonstration. Thank you very much. It also explains why Benjamin Franklin wasn't electrocuted when he demonstrated the nature of lightning with the key attached to a kite.
I'm searching about lightning rods thanks this really helped
Unfortunately this is a load of nonsense. Lightning rods are part of a lightning protection system and are designed to prevent damage caused by high intensity lightning strikes. There is no conclusive evidence that the bleeding effect seen here actually occurs in such a system, there are however many videos of lightening rods being hit by lightening and doing the job they were intended for.
Very informative, good explanation.
Thank you for the info!!
A very current topic! :)
Came for the good looks, stayed for the knowledge
shock...................lightening rod for you dear lady
you had me at came
Very informative great explanation.
This explains why all of the old world buildings have ornate features all over the roofs
Very nice, Sparky. Thank you. :)
Interesting!
this guy: "it doesn't hurt so much anymore once you get used to it"
(seconds later) this guy: "Ouch!"
I look up lightning rods to see how they work and I find this super handsome guy 🥰
Good effort
Uh if you live in places that get lots of storms you should probably have one. We get storms about 8 months out of the year and our house was struck by lightning 2 years ago. I didn't have lightning rods then but wish I had. The whole house had to be rewired. It completely melted the wiring and took out the cable lines and phone lines. Not to mention TV's, computers etc that were plugged in were fried. We had new wiring installed and then I installed lightning rods and a whole house surge protector. Now I know that if that ever happens again all of the electronics and wiring in the house will be protected. If you are tech savey you can do the install yourself for around 700 bucks but expect to pay 1,500 plus to have it done. I can tell you that even the 1,500 is nothing compared to what I had to pay to have the house rewired. We are talking around 9,000 dollars to have new 200 amp service and all new wiring, outlets, lights and switches. You live and you learn I guess.
thank you
what is the difference between the nail and the knob? why did one cause it to spark and the other didnt?
wow... Thanks for that, great vid by the way
***** Lets say you are caught in a thunderstorm while on top of a hill in a big open field or on a golf course or something like that. Would your odds of being struck by lightning decrease significantly if you hold up a big metal spike with a very sharp tip? It sounds like this could seriously protect you but it also seems counter-intuitive according to popular belief.
***** I would take the rod over the sphere any day. A sphere with a large surface will collect charge. I suspect the cylindrical surface of a large spike would also collect charge but if the charge can dissipate out the point fast enough then that would still be better than the sphere. I could see the needle palm being used on golf umbrellas. A metal baseball bat is large, metal, and smooth all around. I bet sticking a tiny pointed nub at the end of it would help to make it a little safer too. From what I hear, baseball bats actually are dangerous in storms. For the record, I am posting this for the fun of science and I have no plans to actually experiment with these ideas in real life. But if I ever feel my hair stand up like I am about to be struck, I probably will check my pockets for sharp objects like a pocket knife point, pen, small nail, or pointed key, and hold onto it tightly pointed side up while lying flat and low on the ground.
***** Lets start a development partnership! I'm making a prototype as we speak. The concept is there we just need to make it safe for people and property considering that it is a ball of spikes and all. I'll let you do the testing - first with your spark generator then with real lightning. haha Kickstarter here we come... lol.
Hi
Why do they put a grounding wire on them if they bleed electrons off.
If you have a ham radio CB or TV antenna on the highest point on the house and you don't want lightning to strike it, is it better to make the top of the antenna form a sharp point?
Hello How much is the maximum area that we can protect with one rod?
I know here in the USA they are spaced 20 feet apart.
Perhaps search lightning rod rolling sphere protection zone. Rolling an imaginary ball of some radius on the ground and up against the lightning rod defines the protection zone. The area between the ball and where the ball touches the rod and ground is protected.
rule of thumb is the diameter equal to the length of the rod (45 degree angle from the top of the rod)
If we keep copper rod near that what will happen ?
Doesn’t matter what kind metal it is
u should try modeling
Hi there, Im building a 22 meter high water tower in my farm and I appreciate the info. If I understand correctly from your video , all I have to do is put a galvanized steel rod like an antenna on top of my tower? Should i connect it with a copper wire and run it into the earth? pls help. Thank uu
Yes. any rod that is point should be ok. It actually can be more effective to have multiple little spike in a cluster. Like a chimney sweep brush head. And yes youll want to run it to ground and attach it to a rod driven 8ft down.
OrionA51 Great, now it makes sense. Thank u so much bro
50 square mm aluminum cable also acceptable but i would suggest to use a copper cable with 70 mm square and you need to dig minimum 8 feet and use proper copper plate or rod with grounding compound.
just wondering does a Tv antennae act as a lightning rod?
MC Drex attached to a tv in a house, no. But if it was outside, sure I guess to some extent if used in place of a regular one. I don't think just one will do it though.
A telecommunication tower (about 50m tall) is located like just 30 yards away from a house that my sister just bought and she's planning to live there in a couple of months. We were told by the community there that during thunderstorm electronic devices and appliances in the residential houses located near the tower will get damaged if they are being plugged.
We live a in 3rd world country so you know telecommunication companies can get away with stuff like this as long as they signed a huge contract with the government. Anyway can you explain the science behind that? And what can she do about it to prevent surge in her electrical circuits that can damage her electronics? (I did tell my sister that she will have to at least have a device called SPD installed in the electrical panel by an electrician before she lives in that house).
The answer is very simple in this case ,first thing is the radio tower is not properly grounded (complaint about this to government authority ) also you need to ground your house wiring properly (dig little bit around three meter then install a proper ground rod or plate and fill with earthing compound ) ,what actually happened in your sisters house ,when ever lightning is hitting the tower ,it will direct the energy to the earth outer surface instead of passing in to inner core of the earth ,as it was not properly grounded a fraction of second the near earth outer surface will have this energy and your sisters house is not properly grounded so that the energy is in the earth is passing to your electric appliance through your house wiring earth connection's only will help you if the energy is transferring to your house through the electric lines but i think in your case the energy is coming to your house through the house wiring earth (for this also a solution is available now)
Now what if you were holding more than one nail
Would do the same thing. And be more effective with high voltages. Think of it like water volume. The more branches off of a running water pipe, more water volume bleeds out until the pressure gets so low it just trickles out of all of them. Water pressure in a single pipe = voltage amount in this case. Static power/voltage can be compared to static water pressure.
@@GrowingAnswers Wow thank you Science Guy! So, to help with lightening it would be fairly effective to have more than one lightening rod then?
@@jenniferhalliwell416 Yes but a lightning “brush” would be better
😂 Thanks boss for explaining 👍 Appreciate You.
So what you are saying is that I can join the neon light and know the knowledge of all truths if I get hit by lightning?
I saw it with my own eyes first I saw a white sparkle thing near my house is in front of my house gate then I hear a very loud sound. Good thing that my house has a lightning rod.
Thanks for getting shocked for our entertainment :)
0:51 there is noise listen
haha! Great video. Thanks for sharing.
- R E T H I N K - P O S S I B L E -
This dude fine as hell damn 😍😍
Juan Macias I was literally thinking the same thing 😂
4:57
4:50 - 'I'm getting a little afraid of it'... ...Don't be tempted to try this with a leyden jar attached, you won't regret it! Mine has bitten me once now, scared the living daylights out of me, and that was before it was fully charged. I have a lot more respect for the apparatus now: ruclips.net/video/XjP8F1iRmDc/видео.html
lightning rod was def still in his hand. 6:07. still a great video tho
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt and im used to it...... aw "
psychopath
Not a whole lot... ? :)) I guess, it depends on where you live. They're mandatory in Germany. All buildings, all elevated, exposed structures, where people live or every elevated structure that could catch fire and thus cause a lots of damages to its surrounding neighbourhood and pose a threat to human lives has to have a lightning conductor. Also statuary and even trees can be equipped with a lightning conductor, though it's not obligatory. In other words: we ALL have lightning rods. I couldn't even think of the carelessness to have none. ;)
Yeah, around here we only see lightning rods in a few higher elevations. The ones on the radio towers are too small notice though.
It bleeds electricity from the cloud to the ground. And you don't get used to electricity. No such process. And there's something wrong with your belt or rollers, as there should be longer and stronger arcs from that size ball. Those are too weak to shock anyway, The nail is bleeding electricity from the ball to you in a steady flow instead of arcs except when you bring the nail up to alnost tuoch then I hear the sound of very short small arcs. And you can't feel the belt current because it's too weak. And a thunderstorm is a natural combination of a vdg AND a Tesla coil. Thunderstorms generate both DC and AC lightbing arcs. And the best protection from lightning-caused fires is good grounding components and non-flammable building components, rather than lightning rods.
david sul getting used to the electricity isn’t a direct comment. simply put, it’s the same as saying how used to being frightened you can get in a short period of time. You can only be scared or surprised by someone so many times within a short time before you are used to it and it no longer bothers you.
Most people would be scared to touch this thing when they see how big the sparks are (and this video is a poor demo of that) in real life. But once they get shocked a few times they would realize it’s not that bad, it’s mostly the surprise and adrenaline that they feel, but the shock itself isn’t as painful as they would portray it to be from the first shock or two.
However after I put the rubber tubing along the rim of the terminal, it made the shocks a lot more powerful and getting shocked 100 times in the same spot causes welts. that’s what you see in the other video.
+Random Ryan Putting rbber tubing along the rim stopped the leaking of charge from along the narrow anglular edge of the ball's fitter. That only added a slight increase in capacitance.and arc length. So you feel it a little more. And you don't have any burns or blisters at the sites of repeated arcs to you skin. It's not enought current to cause burns or blisters. And you have welts rather than little pink spots at those sites. So you have delicate skin. And in your video you used a lower light level to make the arcs look brighter in the video. But be aware that prolonged or excessive presence of electrical currents in the body will cause damage to neural synapses.
Just put up a TV antenna and make sure a ground wire goes to a ground rod. It does double duty..........I said duty.
I thought this was about the oldsmobile 442 lol
I wish lightning Rods produced electricity so I dont need to pay my bill and I'll get my own VPN and wifi
this information is shocking
This guy is fucking hot as hell
You so handsome so cool:)
Lmao @ the intro
hey this is very cool but you do realize that even low voltage electricity can damage your heart? the effects of electrocution are cumulative so bro, probably not a good idea.
JDT738126 it's 300,000-500,000 volts at 60 micro amps. People get shocked by static discharge often. lightning, yes. This, no. Size this up then yes. Beyond 700,000 volts from these and the amps increase. The amps are what kill not volts. high voltage with minor amps is like shooting someone with a rubber band at high speed. Stings a little, but won't ever be lethal. High amps and low volts is like shooting someone with a rubber band that's 20ft long unstretched and weighs 200lb. Doesn't even have to move fast cuz the sheer weight of it will be enough to kill. amps equals mass and volts equals speed.
I thought your presentation was poor. #1 The entire reference to a Van DeGraaf device is unnecessary. The device is not evident in a lightning strike. As for the rest, I am just going to watch a better explanation.
This demonstration is physically wrong. To be fair the conceptual explanation is correct. The problem comes when you put the numbers on it. You are representing a thunderstorm with a Generator and a Lightning Rod with a nail. The proportion of a thunderstorm to an air terminal its not equal to the proportion of that Generator to a nail. It’s dumb to think you can prevent lightning.
Juan Jose Pichardo it doesn’t 100% prevent lightning. look up the actual things they use. The point is...well the “point.”
Growing Answers Sorry, but I didn’t get your point.
Very informative, great explanation.