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Registered Member #1103
Joined: Mon Nov 05 2007, 06:02PM
Location: Houston
Posts: 80
I know lightning has been triggered by the use of rockets and high voltage. The wire & HV source is attached to a rocket, and then the rocket is ignited and proceeds to ascend until it triggers lightning.
What I'm wondering is at what altitude does the rocket have to fly before the lightning is triggered? Also, how much high voltage is needed to successfully trigger lightning? Also, last but not least, what are the possibilities of an "amateur" utilizing this method successfully?
Registered Member #105
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 08:54PM
Location:
Posts: 408
I don't think you even need high voltage connected to the wire. I think a couple thousand volts is not very likely to be a trigger for millions of volts to create a conduction path to ground. Check out this site for a little bit of info:
Registered Member #1103
Joined: Mon Nov 05 2007, 06:02PM
Location: Houston
Posts: 80
Hmm, I would probably conduct this experiment out of the way of the public so as to not endanger anybody.
The current experiment I'm designing requires the use of lightning and the enormous amount of heat generated from the plasma.
It would be interesting to hear from some individuals that have first hand knowledge of these scientific experiments involving the triggering of lightning.
Registered Member #27
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
Some sites says that a charge builds up on the nosecone of the rocket as it flies. I have noticed that helicopters have a tendency to trigger lightning and they also build up a static charge.
One site mentions 600 metres of wire but since you can sometimes trigger lightnbing by waving a fishing rod around and other times it happens between very high clouds I guess it depends mostly on practical and local considerations.
The success depends mostly on launching the rocket at the right time, hopefully just before a natural strike would happen. Some sort of field strength measurements would be very helpful.
If there are regular thunder storms where you live I would say that it is not a hopelesss idea. It would involve some thought to make sure it is safe and probable quite a few tries before it works.
Registered Member #1103
Joined: Mon Nov 05 2007, 06:02PM
Location: Houston
Posts: 80
Hmm, very interesting. This experiment would probably be best conducted in a barren field or at a site with high elevation.
wrote ... To induce lightning, researchers have created a high-tech version of Ben Franklin's kite experiment. They attach a spool of copper-Kevlar wire to a chest-high rocket and affix the other end to a specially designed launch pad.
Then they wait for one of Florida's many summer thunderstorms to pass overhead and intensify.
When things get really gloomy, and lightning is on the verge of busting loose, the scientists shoot a rocket up about 2,000 feet (610 meters), Dwyer explained in a telephone interview. As expected, the storm takes advantage of the direct connection to the ground.
From what this article says, it should be fairly straight forward to obtain/design the needed equipment to trigger lightning.
Registered Member #10
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424
Logan Kennedy wrote ...
The current experiment I'm designing requires the use of lightning and the enormous amount of heat generated from the plasma. It would be interesting to hear from some individuals that have first hand knowledge of these scientific experiments involving the triggering of lightning.
It's much cheaper, safer and reproducible to have a bank of pulse caps for your experiment. Lightning is of the order of 100kA plus if I recall although of much higher voltage and duration. You won't need 10MV if you only have an experiment in a small space. I achieve 100kA easily with my cap bank. Are you willing to say what you have in mind? (mind you it would be very cool to catch lightning)
Registered Member #27
Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058
For most experiments, capcitors would make it much simpler. The reproducability alone is a huge improvement. There are some things like the x-ray/gamma radiation that will be difficult to study.
Registered Member #53
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:31AM
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 638
I wonder how small you could shrink a quarter with triggered lightning . I saw it done on TV once and they didn't charge the wire at all just attached it to a big metal frame on the ground. Their rig was pretty hit and miss, not every rocket got lightning.
Registered Member #15
Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068
In Eastern Europe, they do the same thing with a model rocket and wire, and just launch them over powerlines. (Of course they're idiots), but there are lots of videos on youtube showing this dastardly feat of stupidness.
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Rocket Triggered Lightning
. I saw it done on TV once and they didn't charge the wire at all just attached it to a big metal frame on the ground. Their rig was pretty hit and miss, not every rocket got lightning.
