# Other than height how can you make an outdoor object \*more\* attractive to lightining? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 2, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158 "2006-06-02T16:48:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/1 "2006-06-02T16:48:25Z")
A fierce electrical storm last might made me think. If I stuck a 60 metal pole in a field filled with other 60 foot metal poles, is there some sort of thing I could do to make sure a specific pole got preferentially struck by lighting? In other words how can you make something more (electrically) attractive to lightning? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/2 "2006-06-02T16:58:22Z")
> [@astro](#): > > A fierce electrical storm last might made me think. If I stuck a 60 metal pole in a field filled with other 60 foot metal poles, is there some sort of thing I could do to make sure a specific pole got preferentially struck by lighting? In other words how can you make something more (electrically) attractive to lightning? I would suspect that the better an electrical conductor it is down into the bedrock, the more likely it is to get hit. No cites for that though. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/3 "2006-06-02T17:18:57Z")
You can put an electric charge on it. Puting a sharp point on the end in the air will help also. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/4 "2006-06-02T17:23:06Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > I would suspect that the better an electrical conductor it is down into the bedrock, the more likely it is to get hit. Bedrock doesn’t matter. The water table is as good as it gets; once you get a conductor in there, it’s about the best possible electrical connection to Earth you can have. In most places, this is going to be a few to a dozen or so feet, give or take. Additionally, all things being equal, a pointy pole will tend to be hit more than a non-pointy one. Experiments have shown that a slightly rounded point is somewhat better than a very sharp one, suprisingly. This is the ideal geometry for a lightning rod. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/5 "2006-06-02T17:36:10Z")
> [@Harmonious Discord](#): > > Puting a sharp point on the end in the air will help also. A sharp point would make it less likely to attract lightning. The point is to bleed off electrons slowly into the air to prevent a voltage difference from occurring. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/6 "2006-06-02T17:40:47Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Additionally, all things being equal, a pointy pole will tend to be hit more than a non-pointy one. Experiments have shown that a slightly rounded point is somewhat better than a very sharp one, suprisingly. This is the ideal geometry for a lightning rod. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I can’t believe an SDSAB member is repeating this myth. The purpose and design of a lightning rod is NOT to attract lightning. It is to bleed electrons from the ground to minimize the charge difference that would cause a lightning strike. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/7 "2006-06-02T17:47:47Z")
> [@astro](#): > > is there some sort of thing I could do to make sure a specific pole got preferentially struck by lighting? Strap a laser to the pole. [Laser Lightning Rod](http://www.aip.org/pnu/2004/split/712-2.html) > [@](#): > > Lightning on demand, drawing down a bolt of lightning for performing scientific studies, is usually done by firing a rocket into an overhead cloud. The rocket spools out a long wire, providing a conducting path between the charged-up cloud and the earth below. Soon this might be done using laser pulses. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/8 "2006-06-02T17:52:08Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > The purpose and design of a lightning rod is NOT to attract lightning. It is to bleed electrons from the ground to minimize the charge difference that would cause a lightning strike. I don’t agree. The purpose of a lightning rod is to provide a safe path to ground, nothing more. “Attract” is not really a correct term; it’s more accurate to say that lighting will preferentially strike them. See [here](http://wvlightning.com/protection.shtml): > [@](#): > > Contrary to the myths, these systems don’t attract lightning, nor do they ‘drain’ a storm of its charge to prevent lightning. A lightning protection system’s only purpose is to **ensure safety to a building and its occupants if lightning happens to hit it directly** , a task accomplished by providing a good, safe path to ground for the lightning to follow. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/9 "2006-06-02T17:56:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Additionally, all things being equal, a pointy pole will tend to be hit more than a non-pointy one. Experiments have shown that a slightly rounded point is somewhat better than a very sharp one, suprisingly. This is the ideal geometry for a lightning rod. This is a tricky point, because the usual arguments about it are completely wrong. There is a _wonderful_ article in the American Journal of Physics entitled “The Lightning Rod Fallacy”, by Richard H. Price and R.J. Crowley (and based on arguments by Karel Kuchar) (Vol. 53, pp. 843+, 1985) in which they demonmstrate that the usual arguments given for “pointy tip = high field” are incorrect. They then anticipate your arguments to try and save it (probably because they mentally made the same gyrations) and demonstrate that they won’t help, either. They show you various shaped conductors and still have very low fields where the radius of curvature is the tightest. They even construct a shape that has the field the _lowest_ where the curvature is the highest, or vice-versa. The bottom line is that the _shape_ of the conductor is a structly _local_ variable (I can put a point as sharp as I want over here – it doesn’t matter what it loks like elsewhere), but the electric field is a _global_ function of that shape (the field over here depends not only upon the shape of the conductor over here, but over _there_ as well). Nevertheless, the sharp = high fields argument must be true at some level or under some circumstance, because that’s the experience of everyone whop works in the field. Discharges start near the sharpest points. To stop discharges, electrical workers use “corona putty” to round off sharp corners. Nobody makes insulators with sharp edges – they’re always smoothly rounded forms. And so on. That said, the two chief factors are undoubtedly height and a good, secure, low-resistance electrical path to ground. Technically you could get better coupling with a better conductor, and empirically you’d expect that sharp point to help, too. But I’ll bet any improvement you get from either of those is negligible. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/10 "2006-06-02T18:03:49Z")
I was trying to think of a good ionizing or plasma inducing method. The laser is in use on some taser devices in place of a wire. I don’t know if they’re the civilian ones or the military though. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/11 "2006-06-02T18:16:01Z")
> [@astro](#): > > A fierce electrical storm last might made me think. If I stuck a 60 metal pole in a field filled with other 60 foot metal poles… Somebody [beat you to it](http://www.lightningfield.org/). You can see those are pointy, but this is intended as a work of art, not a scientific experiment per se. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/12 "2006-06-02T18:17:40Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > I don’t agree. The purpose of a lightning rod is to provide a safe path to ground, nothing more. “Attract” is not really a correct term; it’s more accurate to say that lighting will preferentially strike them. See [here](http://wvlightning.com/protection.shtml): Hm, maybe you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/13 "2006-06-02T20:53:33Z")
Cecil on lighting rods: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010824.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010824.html) ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-than-height-how-can-you-make-an-outdoor-object-more-attractive-to-lightining/359158/14 "2006-06-03T00:56:19Z")
Sharp edges/points on it