Lightning Rods: Can They Stop Thunder?

Thread starter neutrino'
Start date Nov 28, 2011
Tags

Lightning thunder

AI Thread Summary

Lightning rods do not prevent the sound of thunder; they only provide a safe path for lightning to discharge. While they can reduce the risk of lightning strikes in a specific area, they do not eliminate the accompanying thunder. Thunder is a result of the rapid expansion of air caused by the heat of the lightning bolt. Therefore, it is impossible to have lightning without thunder. In summary, lightning rods can mitigate lightning strikes but cannot stop the sound of thunder.

Nov 28, 2011

neutrino'

can lightning rod prevent the sound of thunder near the area the lightning stroke?

Science news on Phys.org

Nov 28, 2011

russ_watters

Mentor

Insights Author

Lightning rods help prevent lightning by providing a path to dissipate the potential difference between the ground and the sky without lightning. So in that sense, I guess the answer is yes. But if you're asking if you can have lightning without thunder, no.

Thread 'A quartet of epi-illumination methods'

Well, it took almost 20 years (!!!), but I finally obtained a set of epi-phase microscope objectives (Zeiss). The principles of epi-phase contrast is nearly identical to transillumination phase contrast, but the phase ring is a 1/8 wave retarder rather than a 1/4 wave retarder (because with epi-illumination, the light passes through the ring twice). This method was popular only for a very short period of time before epi-DIC (differential interference contrast) became widely available. So...

View full post »

Thread 'Effective absorption coefficient of gold nanoparticles'

I am currently undertaking a research internship where I am modelling the heating of silicon wafers with a 515 nm femtosecond laser. In order to increase the absorption of the laser into the oxide layer on top of the wafer it was suggested we use gold nanoparticles. I was tasked with modelling the optical properties of a 5nm gold nanoparticle, in particular the absorption cross section, using COMSOL Multiphysics. My model seems to be getting correct values for the absorption coefficient and...

View full post »