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To facilitate the harvesting of lightning, a laser-induced plasma channel (LIPC) could theoretically be used to influence lightning to strike in a predictable location. A high power laser could be used to form an ionized column of gas, which would act as an atmospheric conduit for electrical discharges of lightning, which would direct the lightning to a ground station for harvesting.
The "1.2/50 μs" generator is designed for insulation testing, and produces a high-voltage, low-current impulse into a high-impedance load. The output current of this generator is on the milliampere scale. [2] [5] The "8/20 μs" generator is designed for surge arrester testing, and produces a high-current surge into a low-impedance load. [2]
Combined these create what the Soviets nicknamed a "lightning machine." [1] In all the facility contains a 3 megawatt capacity transformer cascade, a 9 megawatt Pulsed Voltage Generator (PVG), measuring 39.3 meters high and capable of creating 150-meter artificial lightning, and a 2.25 megawatt constant voltage unit. [1]
An impulse generator is an electrical apparatus which produces very short high-voltage or high-current surges. Such devices can be classified into two types: impulse voltage generators and impulse current generators. High impulse voltages are used to test the strength of electric power equipment against lightning and switching surges.
Faraday cages are also used to protect people and equipment against electric currents such as lightning strikes and electrostatic discharges, because the cage conducts electrical current around the outside of the enclosed space and none passes through the interior.
A Marx generator is an electrical circuit first described by Erwin Otto Marx in 1924. [1] Its purpose is to generate a high-voltage pulse from a low-voltage DC supply. Marx generators are used in high-energy physics experiments, as well as to simulate the effects of lightning on power-line gear and aviation equipment.
Franklin's friend Kinnersley traveled throughout the eastern United States in the 1750s demonstrating man-made "lightning" on model thunder houses to show a how an iron rod placed into the ground would protect a wooden structure. He explained that lightning followed the same principles as the sparks from Franklin's electrostatic machine.
A lightning strike can also create a large Lichtenberg figure in grass surrounding the point struck. These are sometimes found on golf courses or in grassy meadows. [ 12 ] Branching root-shaped " fulgurite " mineral deposits may also be created as sand and soil are fused into glassy tubes by the intense heat of the current.