Can Lightning Shatter a Diamond in the Desert?

[Thallium]

Can lightning break diamond..?

 

[GCT]

No, diamond is not a good conductor of electricity.


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[Thallium]

Not even because of the force of the lightning? Can only materials that are good conductors of electricity break by lightning then?

 

[skowalcz]

Not even because of the force of the lightning? Can only materials that are good conductors of electricity break by lightning then?

I guess so. It is the large current that flows through an object that breaks is. So when you have got an insulator, no current will flow and no damage will be created.

By the way, I'm wondering whether this very nice picture of lightning is real.
It looks so amazing that I almost can not believe it's real:


gene.wins.uva.nl/~skowalcz/lightning

Or click http://gene.wins.uva.nl/~skowalcz/lightning , but maybe that doesn't work

 

[Thallium]

It did not work.. The page was babyblue.. Bbayblue lightning? :)

 

[skowalcz]

It did not work.. The page was babyblue.. Bbayblue lightning? :)

Then you should just copy this link

gene.wins.uva.nl/~skowalcz/lightning

and paste it in a new window. That works for sure.

 

[peanutthrower]

thats an awesome pic! where was it taken?

 

[Njorl]

A buddy of mine did a lot of photography. When he went out to Vegas, he went into the desert during a night-time thunderstorm. He mounted his camera rigidly, and left the shutter open. It looks like someone else did that for the pic, but maybe they stuck some filters in for a few different shots. I think the peak output of a lightning strike is in the UV.

Njorl