I read the article and surely not an expert, much less spending 35 years of my life studying the subject.
I have been told that rods were intended only to bleed off the static charge built up when clouds move through the atmosphere generating "static electricity"....like you do walking across a carpeted floor especially in the winter with cool dry air. You realize that when you grab a door handle and get a spark, or you have plastic seat covers in your truck, slide across the seat to grab the door knob and get whacked.
I believe the bleed off theory having made a career out of managing high voltage and understanding it's behavior, ozone generation and the physics of all of that.
However, the amperage of the bolt is what deters me from considering rods effectiveness for a direct strike. You can look up the fusing current of conductors as compared to normal loads and for a conductor to sustain a bolt of lighting at 35,000 amperes, much less 158,000, without fusing and blowing apart (hence become useless after it attracted the lighting in the first place) it would have to be a foot in diameter or something of the sort. Most lightening wires I have seen are like 1" across, square in shape and spiraled....for whatever that does.
I have seen them spiked (spire) and the ones with the glass bulb between the spire and the ground connection. Have no idea as to to the reason for the bulb.
Have a pecan tree about 50' from the house and 20 feet from a Morton building that sustained a hit one night. Trunk was about a foot in diameter at the time. Was in bed and the fireball lit up whole house, an enormous boom, and scared us big time. The next morning I examined the tree and it had a burn mark from the top to the bottom.
On the trunk it was about 4" wide, bark blown off and burned into the tree about 1". The tree survived but the core wood rotted. It grew new bark around the dead part and it is alive today some 20 years later. with the trunk about 18" in diameter now. It is however on it's last leg. I bought this place in '79 and it was a mature tree then. Just time for it to go I guess. The lightening didn't help matters obviously.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Product Review: Black Tire Paint - by Staff. I have been fortunate in that two of my tractors have had rear tires that were in great shape when I bought the tractor. My model "H" even had the old style fronts with plenty of tread. My "L" fronts were mismatched Sears Guardsman snow tires, which I promptly tossed. Well, although these tires were in good shape as far as tread was concerned, they looked real sad. All were flat, but new tubes fixed that. In addition to years and years of scuffing and fading, they had paint splattered on
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
2022 John Deere 5045E, 4wd, front end loader and 3rd function with grapple. 120 hrs, 55k new, must sell
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
