Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Nik, Thu Oct 23 2014, 03:42AM

Literally playing with lightning, that guy has a deathwish but by god if that isn't awesome.

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Alex M, Thu Oct 23 2014, 09:58AM

That is amazing. Capacitor bank of the future anyone?

They have an interesting video of them playing on train tracks here and charging a phone from the rails. Does anyone know what that pulsating signal is for?

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Artlav, Thu Oct 23 2014, 04:03PM

I wonder how much this was due to the voltage on the kite, and how much due to luck.
The air is positively charged, and the ground is negative, so adding a positive charge to the wire should have repelled the lightning, not attracted it, no?
At least, in a brute-force approximation, perhaps there are some complications.

That's A LOT of ultraviolet. :)

My guess will be train detection, i.e. for automatic crossings - the wheels will be a low impedance path between the rails.
Thus, detecting where the train is should be possible by timing (or by measuring resistance at a certain point near the crossing?).

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Nucleophobe, Thu Oct 23 2014, 04:53PM


Possible they had a negative charge on the wire?

I was expecting this to be fake about as much as I expected the Avengers 2 trailer that leaked yesterday to be. Now looks like maybe both are real, what has happened to the internet?

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
2Spoons, Thu Oct 23 2014, 09:06PM

localised ionisation. The same reason electric fences seem to attract lightning.

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Nik, Sat Oct 25 2014, 06:11PM


Instead of a can crusher you could make a barrel crusher!

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Thomas W, Sat Oct 25 2014, 06:23PM



I really really really want to see that be done now... doubt it would be too hard or dangerous if you did it all remotely. Problem is getting the lighning to strike when you want it and where you want it. You might set up the rig and there isn't lightning for 10 months.

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Proud Mary, Sat Oct 25 2014, 11:55PM

Tom, there's a whole bunch of literature about induced lightning strikes with rocket lines and so on, way back to Benjamin Franklin and his keys.

Don't get yourself zapped. :) X

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Thomas W, Sun Oct 26 2014, 01:12AM



Well i shan't be doing it. i live in a town and i rarely ever see lightning and its never close to us, haha.

I think it could be done with a load of copper piping around a drum going directly to ground with a large antenna sticking up from the end of the wire.... would be very interested in seeing such results.

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Forty, Tue Oct 28 2014, 07:45PM

I've always thought a lightning powered railgun would be interesting.

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
hen918, Tue Oct 28 2014, 08:41PM


I think lightning would be too fast for a railgun, a Lorentz ring shooter would be good - you want the highest dv/dt possible

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Dr. Dark Current, Tue Nov 18 2014, 08:16PM

Maybe a car crusher

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Signification, Wed Feb 04 2015, 04:34AM

I can tell you what those signals are (were) used for...learned the hard way...
I can closely relate to that video railroad track experiment--here is a description of one of my similar 'experiment' (~1988) and the shocking result. My house is a little over 100 yards from a railroad track, two-way tracks, thus four rails. As a teenager, my friends and I enjoyed 'playing' around the tracks, doing things like making art from trains crushing things placed on the rails: ex, one of those 5 cent packs of BB's placed under the teeth of a fork created an 'artistic' piece and made me $5. I also mashed a nickel on the rail--it was wide as the rail and thin enough to tear by hand! BION: double stick Scotch tape held it on the track.

OK, I got off on a tangent here, sorry...

To get back on topic, I noticed one night --sparks-- while dragging some cable across the tracks. Catching my interest, I ran home and got my voltmeter and measured several volts (pulsating DC) across the rails. just as in the video (of which I couldn't understand a word), I eventually hooked a speaker across the rails, getting some really cool 'alien sounding' effects that was quite soothing. As there were two sets of rails, I naturally wired them in series for more "volume" I ended up connecting to the four rails, concealing the wires, and running the wire pair, through a wooded area, to my house, through a window into my room and connected to a speaker--just for fun. I got many sounds and could even determine when a train was approaching. That thing stayed there for years--I had almost forgotten about it. Even when they were converting the double tracks to a single track--I guess this is when the wires were discovered an traced straight to me, since one day (my birthday) there was a knock at my door--I opened the door and the driveway was filled with police cars and a huge railroad company truck (which looked like a train car on tires) was parked in the road. The police asked me if this was my house and did I run that wire. When I responded honestly, out came the handcuffs and I got a ride with a convoy to the city jail house. I was interrogated by the police and railroad officials. I explained why I did this and ,luckily, the railroad guys believed me--the police did NOT want to, but no charges were filed--maybe 'birthday mercy'??

Well, the railroad guys actually became interested and we started exchanging information. They explained their concern, since the rails were actually used as signal wires to control the railside 'traffic' lights. I explained I was only listening. When they were convinced I wasn't trying to control train traffic (or worse), I was released--with a court date.

So...the rails were used as electrical 'wires' connected to the railroad 'lights'. I'm sure all that has changed since thirty years.

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
hen918, Wed Feb 04 2015, 08:25PM


You were charged? For what? criminal damage? Don't think it would happen in the UK...

Re: Directing lightning to hit where you want? Could be easier than you expect.
Signification, Thu Feb 05 2015, 05:31PM

No, It's a very small town, the mayor knew of my "gadget" habits, so...end of story. Also, back then (early 80's), another thing that caused 'commotion' was my portable HeNe's on foggy nights. This long before that little red dot was "familiar"