One interesting fact: frozen ground is a bad conductor. The ground potential around your house may go up many 1000s of volts even with just a proximity strike, while the power feed stays down, blowing up anything connected to "ground". Thus the special Nordig surge protection requirements for TV receivers in northern European countries..
On Apr 12, 2012, at 6:58, Jim Lux <jim...@earthlink.net> wrote: > On 4/12/12 6:22 AM, Michael Baker wrote: >> Time-nutters-- >> >> Around here (N. Central Flori-DUH) it is not uncommon for >> near-by lightning strikes to damage underground cables and >> wiring. This is why buried wiring to things like driveway >> gate-openers are often placed in conduit rather than done >> with direct-burial wiring so that if lightning damages the >> wiring a new cable can be pulled through the conduit without >> having to re-dig the burial trench. >> >> Some years ago I had occasion to hold some long discussions >> with Martin Uman, one of the worlds most distinguished and >> eminent lightning researchers. He commented that even with >> the most extraordinary and costly efforts to install protection >> measures, that-- sooner or later-- there was a good chance that >> lightning would find a way to damage things. >> > > > Dr. Uman (and his colleague Dr. Rakov) probably know about lightning and > effects than any other humans alive. He's making an excellent point: at > some point, the cost to replace the gear (or the cost of being "off the air") > is smaller than the cost of the protection scheme. > > Sometimes, you're better off having a sacrificial element, and a spare in the > closet for speedy repair. > > >> His lightning research laboratory was located here in >> N.Central Florida because it is in the heart of the most >> dense strike area in N. America. > > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
