Lasers have shown why one should always close the toilet lid when flushing, and now, scientists have figured out how to use the beams to guide lightning bolts. Called the Laser Lightning Rod (LLR), this system basically consists of a pointed metal rod that is attached to a building’s roof and then connected to the ground by a wire, resulting in a strong electric field that draws lightning away from the structure.
University of Geneva scientists tested the system by placing a femtosecond laser atop Säntis mountain in northeastern Switzerland next to a 124-meter-tall telecommunications tower, one that gets hit with lightning more than 100-times a year. The Laser Lightning Rod (LLR) was then used to shine past the top of the tower from July to September 2021 during a total of over 6-hours of thunderstorms, in which it got hit 4-times when the system was running.
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When very high power laser pulses are emitted into the atmosphere, filaments of very intense light form inside the beam. These filaments ionize the molecules of nitrogen and oxygen present in the air, which then release free electrons to move. This ionized air, called ‘plasma’, becomes an electrical conductor,” said Jean-Pierre Wolf, last author of the study.
