Rocket Lightning Strikes
Stephen DeArman
HEY!
I was flipping channels today and came across the tail end of a
piece on American Journal, about a group doing a study on lightning
strikes and how to prevent them. From their experimentation site,they
set up a number of experiments to measure the effects of lightning, on
things like cars,houses,runways and light poles. When stormy weather
came they were launching what looked like a large Estes Alpha III type
rocket on a F engine into a storm cloud. It was said to reach an
altitude of about 2500'. There was a spool of wire,(kevlar?)that was
connected to a grid that trailed along with it,very much like a TOW
missle. 70% of the time they were able to direct a lightning strike to
the experiment they were working on. It was really pretty sharp to watch
that rocket climb into the cloud and 2-3 seconds later a vivid strike
hit where they wanted it. I did'nt hear the name of the group or where
they are doind research. If anyone saw it or knows of this group,please
post the info. to rmr or email me. Thanks.
Trust No One,
Randy
Push the button Max,
Spam.tek.com.....
In article <33825D...@worldnet.att.net>, tail...@worldnet.att.net says...
The PBS program,NOVA,did a show on this,titled 'Lightning'. You can probably
get copies from them through the web page,PBS.ORG. I've seen it re-run on our
local PBS channel several times.
Jim Yanik
fox...@mindspring.com
Fox...@mindspring.com wrote:
The group I saw was out of Gainsville or Tallahassee Florida.
They launch a pretty neat rocket with fine copper wire trailing behind
it, into a cloud that they determined is a potential for producing lightning
then if they choose correctly, induce the strike, and they measure
voltage, and other info. When it strikes, and runs into the ground
it produces molten crystal structures from the sand in the area they
analyize. Its a study in work with NOAA on determining lightning strike
and other weather related items.
David Richards
In article <33825D...@worldnet.att.net>,
Stephen DeArman <tail...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> I was flipping channels today and came across the tail end of a
>piece on American Journal, about a group doing a study on lightning
>strikes and how to prevent them. From their experimentation site,they
>set up a number of experiments to measure the effects of lightning, on
>things like cars,houses,runways and light poles. When stormy weather
>came they were launching what looked like a large Estes Alpha III type
>rocket on a F engine into a storm cloud. It was said to reach an
>altitude of about 2500'. There was a spool of wire,(kevlar?)that was
>connected to a grid that trailed along with it,very much like a TOW
>missle. 70% of the time they were able to direct a lightning strike to
>the experiment they were working on. It was really pretty sharp to watch
>that rocket climb into the cloud and 2-3 seconds later a vivid strike
>hit where they wanted it. I did'nt hear the name of the group or where
>they are doind research. If anyone saw it or knows of this group,please
>post the info. to rmr or email me. Thanks.
I've always wanted to try this (wireless launch of course), and several
sources have suggested that trailing a wire is not necessary- the rocket
exhaust trail should be enough to lead a strike in.
--
David Richards Ripco, since Nineteen-Eighty-Three
My opinions are my own, IRS withstanding Public Access in Chicago
Proud to be the 5,000th least-important Shell/SLIP/PPP/UUCP/ISDN/Leased
usenet-abuser, by the unofficial GSUA. (773) 665-0065 !Free Usenet/E-Mail!
Konrad Hambrick
In article <5lvlvk$nni$1...@gail.ripco.com>, David Richards <d...@ripco.com> wrote:
>
> <Launching Rockets into Thunderheads>
>
>I've always wanted to try this (wireless launch of course), and several
>sources have suggested that trailing a wire is not necessary- the rocket
>exhaust trail should be enough to lead a strike in.
Don't try this at home, kids. The trailing wire from the
rocket may-or-may-not be necessary but that little wire
( the launch control lead ) leading from the lightning rod
on the ground ( also known as a launch rod ) and back into
your waiting fist might make things real interesting for you
( one time only )
***************************************************
* The researchers launched from a well-grounded *
* Farraday Cage with a rubber / plastic pneumatic *
* tube instead of a standard electrical launch *
* controller. *
***************************************************
I have seen variations of this report a half dozen times or so
on PBS and on TLC and IMNSHO the report gave just enough info
so that some kid is going to get killed because the safety
measures were not carefully explained in the report.
That would be the beginning of MAMR ( Mothers Against Model
Rocketry ;-) and the end of our beloved hobby ):
This experiment is simply too easy for a kid to imperfectly
duplicate and get himself killed. I said this the last time
this thread came up and I will say it this time and the next
time too: If you don't know what a Farraday Cage is and how
to build and implement it properly, you really should not try
this experiment at home.
Just my $0.02.
-- kjh
--
------------------------------------------------------------
Konrad J. Hambrick | email: kon...@netcom.com |
1111 Seacoast Dr. Unit 41 | home: (619) 423-4451 |
Imperial Beach, CA 91932 | |
Mike Vande Bunt
Stephen DeArman (tail...@worldnet.att.net) wrote:
: HEY!
: I was flipping channels today and came across the tail end of a
: piece on American Journal, about a group doing a study on lightning
: strikes and how to prevent them. From their experimentation site,they
: set up a number of experiments to measure the effects of lightning, on
: things like cars,houses,runways and light poles. When stormy weather
: came they were launching what looked like a large Estes Alpha III type
: rocket on a F engine into a storm cloud. It was said to reach an
: altitude of about 2500'. There was a spool of wire,(kevlar?)that was
: connected to a grid that trailed along with it,very much like a TOW
: missle. 70% of the time they were able to direct a lightning strike to
: the experiment they were working on. It was really pretty sharp to watch
: that rocket climb into the cloud and 2-3 seconds later a vivid strike
: hit where they wanted it. I did'nt hear the name of the group or where
: they are doind research. If anyone saw it or knows of this group,please
: post the info. to rmr or email me. Thanks.
: Trust No One,
: Randy
: Push the button Max,
The group that does that is located in central Florida (There are more
thunderstorms there than anywhere else in the US) and is funded by an
organization of power companies to test the effects of lightning on power
distribution equipment. There is also another group in Colorado doing
research for NOAA that uses rockets. Both groups were shown on a NOVA
program on PBS entitles "Lightning!" a year or so ago. The video may be
available from the PBS web site.
--
Mike Vande Bunt (N9KHZ) Mike.Va...@mixcom.com <*> TRA:4537 NAR:65174
Jack Goff
fox...@mindspring.com wrote:
>Fox...@mindspring.com wrote:
>The group I saw was out of Gainsville or Tallahassee Florida.
>They launch a pretty neat rocket with fine copper wire trailing behind
>it, into a cloud that they determined is a potential for producing lightning
>then if they choose correctly, induce the strike, and they measure
>voltage, and other info. When it strikes, and runs into the ground
>it produces molten crystal structures from the sand in the area they
>analyize. Its a study in work with NOAA on determining lightning strike
>and other weather related items.
If it's the group out of Florida, Rocket Science in Lexington, SC now
makes their rockets for them. They're G10 tubes with a white plastic
used for the fins, LOC nose cone. They fly on Vulcan H300's. Minimum
diameter.
Larry and Harry have flown the prototype at our Orangeburg launch
several times. Without the wire spool and the thunderstorm, of
course. :-)
Jack
Chris King.
:Jack Goff (cg...@scsn.kill.spam.net) wrote:
: fox...@mindspring.com wrote:
: >The group I saw was out of Gainsville or Tallahassee Florida.
: >They launch a pretty neat rocket with fine copper wire trailing behind
: >it, into a cloud that they determined is a potential for producing lightning
: >then if they choose correctly, induce the strike, and they measure
: >voltage, and other info. When it strikes, and runs into the ground
: >it produces molten crystal structures from the sand in the area they
: >analyize. Its a study in work with NOAA on determining lightning strike
: >and other weather related items.
:
I saw a similar program to what is described in this series of articles
(in the UK) called Equinox.
The activities mentioned are being performed by a research group somewhere
in Florida. The rockets were launched using 'standard' igniters triggered
by an air operated switch(i.e. blow down a long rubber pipe whilst still
in a Faraday cage).
The crystal structures you speak of are referred to as Fulgerites and are
basically a form of glass.
--
________________________________________________________________
Christopher.W.King. E-mail : ck5...@bristol.ac.uk
Physics undergraduate
University of Bristol.
A. Marchant-Shapiro
There was an episode on NOVA a while back showing researchers using
rockets to attract strikes. I saw it on tape recently, and then got
my hands on one of the rockets used -- turns out another section of
the company I do computer work for (Power Technologies, Inc) was one
of the groups doing some launchings in Florida. They were trying to
assess the impact of lightening on buried electrical cables.
The rockets they used were modified French cloud-seeding beasties,
very solidly built -- each about 3' long (approx), 3' (approx)
diameter, bodies and fins made of a single mold of blue plastic,
yellow plastic modified ogive cones. There are some VERY impressive
photos in their lab of the resulting strikes. I was told that these
were similar to model rockets, but were actually developed for
rainmaking, and did not (normally) use the same engines. I think an E
or F in one of these would make for a real nice show, however.
dmorris@shentel.net@nospam
On 21 May 1997 11:12:24 GMT, JY@no Spam.tek.com..... (Jim Yanik)
wrote:
>>piece on American Journal, about a group doing a study on lightning
>>strikes and how to prevent them. From their experimentation site,they
>>set up a number of experiments to measure the effects of lightning, on
>>things like cars,houses,runways and light poles. When stormy weather
>>came they were launching what looked like a large Estes Alpha III type
>>rocket on a F engine into a storm cloud. It was said to reach an
>>altitude of about 2500'. There was a spool of wire,(kevlar?)that was
>>connected to a grid that trailed along with it,very much like a TOW
Actually, if I remember right, they were using #40 copper wire! I
found this interresting as well, too bad I didn't know in advance or
I'd have taped it!