The idea behind it is a laser gun “teasing out” lightning from the clouds, specifically channeling and diverting it from costly infrastructure in order to conduct it from there into the ground. Fulgurites (from Latin fulgur 'lightning', and -ite ), commonly called ' fossilized lightning ', are natural tubes, clumps, or masses of sintered, vitrified, and/or fused soil, sand, rock, organic debris and other sediments that sometimes form when lightning discharges into ground. That’s why the EU launched the Laser Lightning Rod (LLR) project. Moreover, lightning rods may even trigger additional indirect effects such as electromagnetic interferences and voltage surges in equipment. Especially in the case of large buildings with sensitive technical systems such as airports and power-plants they do not provide adequate protection. However, lightning rods are not always of help. It’ll also send energy radiating through the ground to create hollow glass tubes that are called. When the circumstances are just right, the lightning will fuse a bunch of sand together and turn it into silica glass. Lightning rods have been serving this purpose all over the world until today – even 270 years after the kite experiment. In order for it to happen, lightning has to strike sand and heat it up to about 1,800 degrees Celsius in under a second. The experiment inspired the American inventor and statesman with the idea of equipping the roofs of buildings with long metal tips that would intercept the electrical discharges and conduct them into the ground. Scientists assume that heavy thunderstorms will increase due to climate change.Įver since 1752 when Benjamin Franklin was struck by his brain wave of experimenting with a metal kite people have known how to protect themselves against the destructive fury of thunderbolts. They lead to power outages and forest fires, they damage computer systems, and they can kill people and animals. You can learn more about fulgurites at en./wiki/Fulgurite (Wikipedia).Lightning strikes cause damage of several billion euros around the world each year. Stroke of good fortune: A wealth of data from petrified lightning. FULGURITE Stone, Lightning Strikes Sand - Hollow Glass Tube, Sahara Desert Lightning. Pickering, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.Įven if you’re afraid of thunderstorms, the amazing powers of lightning are bound to impress you! And lightning strikes can even tell a story of ancient times.- E. FULGURITE Stone, Lightning Strikes Sand - Hollow Glass Tube, Sahara Desert Lightning. The researchers suspect that, when the fulgurites were created, the climate in southwest Egypt was similar to present-day conditions in Niger.įulgurites and their gas bubbles are good windows into the past, scientists say, because such glasses remain stable over time.Īnalyzing the Egyptian fulgurites, in particular, is “an interesting way of showing that the climate in this region has changed,” says Kenneth E. Today, shrubs and grasses grow in the hot, dry climate of Niger, 600 kilometers (375 miles) south of the Egypt site. Their chemical analyses showed that the landscape could have supported shrubs and grasses 15,000 years ago. The scientists, for the first time, also looked at the gases trapped inside bubbles in the glass. The gases trapped in bubbles within samples of fulgurite provide clues to ancient soil and atmospheric chemistry and climate. By measuring the intensity of the glow when the samples were heated, the researchers found that the fulgurites formed around 15,000 years ago. The older the material is, the more defects there are, and the stronger the minerals glow at certain wavelengths of light when they’re heated. Over time, exposure to natural radiation causes small defects in the glassy fulgurites. When heated, minerals in fulgurites glow. Recently, scientists from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City studied fulgurites that had been collected in Egypt in 1999. These lumps and tubes of glass suggest that lightning used to strike there more often in the past. Between 19, satellites in space detected hardly any lightning in the area.Īmid the region’s sandy dunes, however, fulgurites are common. Thunderstorms are rare in the desert of southwest Egypt. Now, scientists are studying fulgurites in Egypt to piece together a history of the region’s climate. ( Fulgur is the Latin word for lightning.) Then it hardens into lumps of glass called fulgurites. This melted substance combines with other materials. When a bolt of lightning strikes a sandy surface, the electricity can melt the sand. When lightning strikes the ground, it fuses sand in the soil into tubes of glass called fulgurites. Lightning also has the power to make glass. Lightning can frighten pets and kids, start fires, destroy trees, and kill people. That’s five times as hot as the surface of the sun. One bolt heats the air to 30,000 degrees C.
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