# The 'Fly Swat' strategy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fly-swat-strategy/262343>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 31, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fly-swat-strategy/262343 "2004-08-31T01:47:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fly-swat-strategy/262343/21 "2004-09-01T19:34:24Z")

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Well, I said it is “basic high-school physics” that a lightning rod dispels the charge from the ground because that’s what I was taught in high-school physics, in 1980. Maybe the teacher got it wrong. He did make a point of saying that a van der Graaf generator has a globe on top because that shape holds the charge on the surface and prevents it from dispersing, thus it builds up a charge that we see discharged in sparks when you put your finger close to it. A lightning rod, on the other hand, is pointy on top, which concentrates its electric (or was it magnetic?) field-lines at one point, which makes it possible for it to discharge electrons steadily and harmlessly, from the ground into the air, thus preventing the charge buildup which leads to a stroke of lightning.

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**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fly-swat-strategy/262343/22 "2004-09-01T20:23:46Z")

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Well that’s the ON (original nitpick) answered, now what was the OP again?

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**Author:** ![MikeCollins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MikeCollins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeCollins)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2004, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fly-swat-strategy/262343/23 "2004-09-01T23:03:37Z")

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> [@CurtC](#):
>
> …So the way that “lightning rod” was used in the OP is correct - a lightning rod actually attracts lightning to itself. Granted, it can only do this with a stroke that would hit in the vicinity anyway.

Yeah that’s how I understood it too. High school physics, no less.

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**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fly-swat-strategy/262343/24 "2004-09-02T01:13:20Z")

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This lightning-rod business is a scientific question and really belongs in GQ, so I started a thread there: “Can a lightning rod really be said to “attract” lightning?” – [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=274195](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=274195)

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