Phil,
So when you did your lightening paper way back in high school, were you
able to interview Ben Franklin regarding his experiments with lightening?
73, Steve KW3A
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: How much power in a lightning strike? RE: Lightning Arresters
>I did a research paper in high school on lightning and I have watched
> several lightning specials on satellite channels over the years, plus, as
> mentioned earlier, I was three feet from a lightning flash over, for what
> that is worth, but according to one of the articles I read for my research
> paper, lightning bolts can have up to 1 billion volts and 500 amps of
> power.
> This generally , according to what I have read, is the extreme high end of
> the rating but you can be 20 miles distant from a storm and still be
> struck
> by a lightning bolt. I've also been about 75 feet from a telephone pole
> that was hit by lightning. One of the problems of being struck seems to
> be
> if you are carrying an Ipod, a cellphone, or any electronic device based
> upon the bulk of the research to date. I carry my cell phone with a clip
> on
> the back of it and clip it to my shirt pocket, instead of a belt clip,
> because that way I don't keep brushing the phone off my belt when passing
> too closely to a table or chair. So, in short, if I'm hit, maybe my heart
> will be the focus of the strike. Ball lightning I have confirmed by two
> different people. One was a Nebraska farmer who saw lightning strike a
> tree, roll down to the ground in a ball, and literally roll along the
> ground
> until it hit a fence post or something sticking up in its way and then
> exploded as it that was where it hit in the first place. Another farmer
> friend watched from the house as lightning, in New York, struck the
> ground,
> bounced 4 and 5 times into the air, and then finally exploded. That's
> some
> pretty weird plasma that I don't want to be around when it hits.
>
> Phil.
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Subject: Re: How much power in a lightning strike? RE: Lightning Arresters
>
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