Discharge Autopsy

Naturals phenomena always impressed me. By looking at Bew!'s images of storms, I remembered one evening when I observed lightning. One of them touched the ground; too bad, my house was on his way...

Million amps in a few milliseconds, nothing's better to heat the place! Vitrified concrete walls, burned electric installation, etc.; well, its irritating!

I'm an amateur radio operator and this lightning followed the antenna cables installed on my house roof. At the entrance points in the house, where passes the cables, the concrete wall was bored in several places; the edges were vitrified as if they were made of plastic.

The most amazing thing, the electronic hardware which was DIRECTLY connected to antennas WAS UNTOUCHED! 2 transmitters, 2 receivers, the receiver's computer, etc... When we know the microprocessors sensitivity to static electricity, there's something to be perplexed of.

In the same room, there's measurement hardware which is connected to sector. There, damage was more significant. But apparently not with the same proportion of the discharge intensity.

In the basement, I found electric control panels torn off the wall. Porcelain fuses had melted. Rather, there were small porcelain drops.

In the garden, there's pylon, higher than the house, which also supports antennas. No damage.

An amateur radio operator friend of mine who works at Électricité de France said they don't know either why lightning falls at certain places. The potential difference doesn't explain everything. They make experiments like rockets shooting through clouds, etc...

What is sure, pointed objects seem to attract lightning.

If I remember well my electronic courses, I think it's call the "Corona effect".

Since, I like to observe storms but preferably on Bew!...

Note: surely it is less dangerous! :-)