Here is a description of the principle of the operation of a new lightning devic

Question

Here is a description of the principle of the operation of a new lightning device:

During a storm the ambient electric field may rise to between 10 to 20 kV/m. As soon as the field exceeds a thresold representing the minimum risk of a lightning strike, the OPR lightning terminal is activated. It draw its energy from the ambient electric field the energy required to generate high voltage pulses, creating and propagating an upward leader. No other power sources are required, and no radioactive components are used.

It remains unclear to me the physics of the drawing the energy from the electric field. Obviously, you can not draw the energy from the electrostatic field, no matter how strong it is. So i suppose that the electric field must oscillate more or less. The question is:

Which is a minimal frequency of the oscillations so that such device can work properly?

A full description of the device

Explanation / Answer

The quotes you give do not really explain much.

With a conductor one can short the static field of the atmosphere, one does not need oscillations for that. I think it was Benjamin Franklin with reaching the clouds who discovered that first hand?

Lightening strikes when naturally induced upward leaders reach and meet the charged cloud downward leaders creating a path of ions for the energy to go through. This happens when the fields are strong to strip neutral molecules from their electrons and create an ionisation path.

Edit, correction: Just saw the link you provided. It seems that it works in channelling the lightning to the rod instead of playing russian roulette on where it will hit. It is the logic of simple lightning rods, so that the energy is sent to the ground without damaging the buildings. The proposed design makes sure that this will happen instead of leaving it to the probable fields that would develop naturally with the simple lightning rods.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse H
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.