I had been noticing a complete sequence of lightning rods mounted on roof peaks at a close-by shopping center. All of them seemed like this:
Determine 1 Lightning rod mounted on roof peak.
I puzzled what function that ball within the heart of the vertical rod would possibly serve. That was not a straightforward reply to seek out although. Most web sites talked concerning the ornamental attract of coloured spheres and I didn’t assume esthetics would have a lot to do with what I needed to know.
Lastly, I did a Google search on “lightning rod orb” and within the outcomes discovered the next:
Determine 2 Google “lightning rod ball” search consequence excerpt.
I think about that sudden heating of the vertical metallic rod in the mean time of a lightning strike would trigger rod enlargement towards the glass, nonetheless slight. That enlargement would then fracture the glass which might not survive the occasion.
Trying across the mall, there have been a number of such roof peaks, every geared up with the identical form of lightning rod and ball and none of them confirmed any indicators of injury.
I suppose meaning to date, so good.
John Dunn is an electronics marketing consultant, and a graduate of The Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (BSEE) and of New York College (MSEE).
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