Lightning rod ben franklin biography
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Lightning rod
Metal rod intended to protect a structure from a lightning strike
For the 1938 film, see Lightning Conductor (film). For the 2016 roller coaster, see Lightning Rod (roller coaster). For the American musician, see Jalal Mansur Nuriddin.
A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it is most likely to strike the rod and be conducted to ground through a wire, rather than passing through the structure, where it could start a fire or even cause electrocution. Lightning rods are also called finials, air terminals, or strike termination devices.
In a lightning protection system, a lightning rod is a single component of the system. The lightning rod requires a connection to the earth to perform its protective function. Lightning rods come in many different forms, including hollow, solid, pointed, rounded, flat strips, or even bristle brush-like. The main attribute common to all lightning rods is that they are all made of conductive materials, such as copper and aluminum. Copper and its alloys are the most common materials used in lightning protection.[1]
History
[edit]The first proper lightning rod
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Franklin Institute
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The Lightning Rod: A Not-So-Shocking Invention
Lightning is a force to be reckoned with. It can strike at one third the speed of light and at temperatures exceeding 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. We have all seen the beautiful flashes of light and heard roaring shockwaves of thunder, but most people do not have personal experience with the damage that lightning can cause to buildings, ships, and many other structures, let alone the injuries and deaths it can cause to people. For that, we can thank Benjamin Franklin’s ingenious invention—the lightning rod.
For centuries, lightning was a mystery, often believed to be an act of God. Many philosophers and scientists of the mid-eighteenth century suspected, though they could not prove, that lightning was electricity. Now we know that lightning is caused when excess electrical charge builds up in clouds. When the charge becomes great enough, it can be released, jumping from clouds to the ground in a sudden bolt. When experiments were preformed attempting to “draw sparks” from lightning, it was finally proven that thunderclouds are electrified and lightning is an electrical discharge.
The first experiment was performed under instructions from scientist Thomas-François Dalibard, who translated some of Franklin’s books fr