Lightning Strikes: Does it Create an EMP?

[MassiveEffect]

I don't know if this is in the right section but here goes any way

when lighting strikes does it create a magnetic wave and or an EMP?

 

[Simon Bridge]

Welcome to PF;
Why does it have to be one or the other?

 

[MassiveEffect]

i was wondering does it produce both or just 1 of them?

 

[Drakkith]

i was wondering does it produce both or just 1 of them?

Well, lightning is a high voltage discharge which moves a massive amount of current from the clouds to the ground, from one cloud to another, or from the ground to the clouds. This movement of charges will produce a brief high intensity magnetic field and it will also heat the air to such a high temperature that it emits a large amount of EM radiation. I don't know if I would call it an EMP though. I guess you could however.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Yeah - it is electromagnetic, and comes in a pulse.
Surely there's also an electric field from the charges?

Anyway - I remember listening to clicks on a radio receiver corresponding to lightning strikes. Perhaps that is the context?

 

[Drakkith]

Yeah - it is electromagnetic, and comes in a pulse.
Surely there's also an electric field from the charges?

Well, we could call it an electromagnetic field, but I feel that the magnetic portion would be much more intense than the electric portion. Plus the charges are moving to equalize potential difference so I don't know if there's a net electric charge near the path of the charges. I'm thinking of something like a circuit where the circuit itself isn't charged, but there's still a potential difference that causes current to flow.

And sure, you can call it an EMP, it's just that you normally hear the term in regards to nuclear weapons or devices specifically designed to produce an EMP.

Anyway - I remember listening to clicks on a radio receiver corresponding to lightning strikes. Perhaps that is the context?

Interesting. I've never noticed that before.

 

[MassiveEffect]

even when it enters into a lighting rod would it still have high intensity magnetic field within the lighting rod?and that video was alsome

 

[Simon Bridge]

Surely there would be a net, if diffuse, dipole just ahead of the strike?
This http://regentsprep.org/regents/physics/phys03/alightnin/.

 

[MassiveEffect]

if the lighting in the air is the only time that the high intensity magnetic field is present then i could work that into my experiment i am not well versed on this subject but just had an idea and trying to see if my idea possible if it is then it could mean great things to come in the electric industries

 

[Drakkith]

Surely there would be a net, if diffuse, dipole just ahead of the strike?
This http://regentsprep.org/regents/physics/phys03/alightnin/.

Electric dipole? I don't know. My understanding was that the air is ionized and the electrons from the air itself are the initial charges that proceed downwards to the ground with the excess electrons from the cloud moving through the ionized path and eventually recombining with positive ions in the air once the strike is over.

even when it enters into a lighting rod would it still have high intensity magnetic field within the lighting rod?

Absolutely.

if the lighting in the air is the only time that the high intensity magnetic field is present then i could work that into my experiment i am not well versed on this subject but just had an idea and trying to see if my idea possible if it is then it could mean great things to come in the electric industries

Which subject are you not well versed on? Lightning, or electromagnetism?

 

[MassiveEffect]

not to well versed on electromagnetism

i don't really want to state my theory any were on the web because i don't want my idea to be stolen

 

[MassiveEffect]

were would be a good place to state my theroy so that it would be known that i was the 1 that come up with it

and so no 1 would be able to steal it?

 

[Drakkith]

not to well versed on electromagnetism

i don't really want to state my theory any were on the web because i don't want my idea to be stolen

were would be a good place to state my theroy so that it would be known that i was the 1 that come up with it

and so no 1 would be able to steal it?

I can almost guarantee you that if you aren't well educated in electromagnetism that you do not have a useful theory. Honestly I can't think of any benefit lightning could have on the electric industry, though I have seen several ideas that were pretty much useless. Things like powering the grid especially.

However, in the off chance that your idea is genuinely a good one, I would say write a paper and publish it. Perhaps on arxiv.org, although I don't know if they have any restrictions on what they allow.

 

[MassiveEffect]

tnx for the info man i am writing my paper right now will post it on that site that you linked me to thank you very much

 

[MassiveEffect]

My theory states if you take a lighting rod and place a 2 foot section of non conductive material about 2 inches thick. Along that 2 foot section place a copper coil that is held in its own spool. When lighting strikes the rod the high intensity magnetic field that accompanies the lighting strike will produce a significant charge to be present in the copper coil. With the proper equipment the charge may be turned into a useable energy sources.

 

[Drakkith]

My theory states if you take a lighting rod and place a 2 foot section of non conductive material about 2 inches thick. Along that 2 foot section place a copper coil that is held in its own spool. When lighting strikes the rod the high intensity magnetic field that accompanies the lighting strike will produce a significant charge to be present in the copper coil. With the proper equipment the charge may be turned into a useable energy sources.

See here: http://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Lightning_Power

 

[Simon Bridge]

What an intriguing wiki there Drakkith.

 

[Drakkith]

What an intriguing wiki there Drakkith.

Is it? I didn't even look at the rest of the site, I just read the article about the lightning and it seemed like it had some decent info and applied to the topic.

 

[Simon Bridge]

Oh you'd probably better look then - as a publicly editable wiki on the subject of non-mainstream energy, you can imagine what it has attracted.

The antigravity section is highly entertaining.
FWIW: the lightning energy section is restrained and thoughtful.

 

[Drakkith]

The antigravity section is highly entertaining.

Hah!

 

[DaveC426913]

The antigravity section is highly entertaining.

So is the rest of it.

"...some of the same electrostatic and possibly even cosmic forces that drive lightning might also be at work in some of the other free energy technologies such as overunity..."

I love the fact that they have a section devoted to "half bakery" - the implication being that the rest of it isn't.

 

[Simon Bridge]

The "about us" bit is a fun read for the connoisseur too ;)

It's a gem - sort of the opposite of Donald Simanek's site.
I mean - these sites are not normally so... polished. However, since it would be easy to mistake it for a genuine resource I figured it needed a caveat in there.

The idea of storing, for later use, the energy in lightning is not exactly new. NYT article describes a group that appears to have been conned into purchasing an invention similar to the description above. It's been discussed here before too. They don't seem to be coming up in "similar threads" - perhaps because the title is misspelled.

Actual attempts seem to be dominated by the fringe set.