take an ordinary lightning rod and rout the power through a laser to produce mondo powerful laser pulse into sky. laser beam should ionize a path into the ionesphere thereby enabling it to discharge any air ground potential differences if only temporarily. would of course have to be setup well out side any sky lanes or population centers what with EMP and powerful laserbeam. i can see it now: in todays news college science project goes awry and incinerates passenger jet killing all on board.
-- Spaceman Spiff, Feb 16 2008

Laser for lightning http://www.esdjourn...articles/lightn.htm
An interesting article about experiments as early as 30 years ago. [Amos Kito, Feb 16 2008]

Is the idea to make an "ideal lightning conductor"? If so, I think it's redundant. The initial lightning bolt itself creates a highly ionized path to ground, through which multiple strikes flow. This is why most lightning flashes last for a significant fraction of a second, as multiple strikes run along the ionization path caused by the first strike.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 16 2008


yes i know lightning creates an ionized path but it only extends to the point of origin usually somewhere in the troposphere this creates a path through the entire atmosphere allowing possibly even greater discharges.
-- Spaceman Spiff, Feb 16 2008


Old stuff.
-- ldischler, Feb 16 2008


sp. "route", "ionosphere", "outside", "laser beam", "today's".
Lacking in shift-key action and probably a few definite articles.
"Mondo"?
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Feb 16 2008


Slang for "very".
-- jutta, Feb 16 2008


Wouldn't a wire attached to a rocket provide a superior initial pathway? I think capturing the energy in lightning would prove quite challenging and the logic of trying to get a cloud to fire a second time is lost on me. Would a giant capacitor be a superior ground when compared to the bare soil? How tall would the rod have to be (and how well insulated) to defeat this difference in resistance?
-- WcW, Feb 16 2008


//yes i know lightning creates an ionized path but.....// Yes, so what does your laser do that differs? I'm not criticising the idea, but you need to explain it intelligibly if you want intelligent comments. A little punctuation would also help, if only as a courtesy.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 17 2008


I haven't figured out yet why I should prefer to have lightning strike my $770,000 pulsed laser equipment instead of a $26 copper rod.
-- lurch, Feb 17 2008


actually, the idea is to set it up weeks in advance and aim it such that the annoying cell-phone tower that spoils your view from the front window is "destroyed by lightning"<cough> during the next thunderstorm.
-- FlyingToaster, Feb 18 2008


Disabling the lighting arrestor by bridging would do the same thing and wouldn't require a laser or capacitor the size of a railcar.
-- WcW, Feb 18 2008



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