Can Lightning Be Harnessed for Energy?

[nafiz27me]

Hi everyone,
I am a Mechanical engineer, but i think my knowledge is very limited so please forgive me if i write something wrong.

As we can see the world wide crisis of energy, i have an idea to solve it. HOW?? Its the most interesting part... I always though about catching the thunder but i don't have idea but some basic things. Many of my friends though make fun of my idea but i think it can change the world.

I was thinking that if a thunderbolt has 10000 or greater volt in it we can use tower to collect the thunder first then there will be a net of conductor in which the wire will be only connected in series connection to reduce this huge voltage to a minimum level then we can use it or store it.

It's my basic idea, i shall be very happy if anyone share his /her idea on this topics.

thanks

 

[tiny-tim]

hi nafiz27me!

… if a thunderbolt has 10000 or greater volt in it we can use tower to collect the thunder first then there will be a net of conductor in which the wire will be only connected in series connection to reduce this huge voltage to a minimum level then we can use it or store it.

what really matters is the total energy

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvesting_lightning_energy …

According to Martin A. Uman, co-director of the Lightning Research Laboratory at the University of Florida and a leading authority on lightning, a single lightning strike, while fast and bright, contains very little energy, and dozens of lightning towers like those used in the system tested by AEHI would be needed to operate five 100-watt light bulbs for the course of a year.
When interviewed by The New York Times, he stated that the energy in a thunderstorm is comparable to that of an atomic bomb, but trying to harvest the energy of lightning from the ground is "hopeless".​

 

[Simon Bridge]

Assuming by "thunderbolt" you mean "lightning"...

It's something that comes up a lot - apart from the tech problems with catching and storing and converting the energy there are also practical consideration about the proportion of lightning strikes you could expect to collect.

It's a common speculation though:
eg.
http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/19082/how-much-energy-is-in-a-lightning-strike

There is also a minefield of pseudoscience about this sort of idea on the web - and there's lots of people trying - so... take care researching and good hunting.
http://www.weatherimagery.com/blog/harnessing-lightning-power/
[edit] makes the same point Tim just did while I was typing... <waves>