Why Do We Have Lightning Rods

Many people believe that lightning rods attract lightning.

Why do we have lightning rods.

There is the heavy duty kind on skyscrapers that takes the brunt of bolts and conducts them safely to ground and the delicate sharply pointed ones that protect residences by bleeding off electric charge and preventing strikes. They do not decrease the likelihood your home may be struck but provide a direct path to ground preventing damage to your home from fire explosion and electrical surges that can result from lightning strikes. Lightning rods are also called finials air terminals or strike termination devices. How many homes have lighting rods.

Lightning rods and grounding. Lightning rods and the accompanying protection system are designed to protect a house or building from a direct lightning strike and in particular a lightning initiated fire. People can install lightning rods which conduct the charge be conducted to ground through a wire instead of passing through the structure where it could start a fire or cause electrocution on. Lightning rods intercept this voltage providing a safe path for lightning current into the ground.

Note that lightning protection systems do not prevent lightning from striking the structure but rather intercept a lightning strike provide a conductive path for the harmful electrical discharge to follow the appropriate ul listed copper or aluminum cable and disperse the energy safely into the ground. The purpose of lightning rods is often misunderstood. Mounted on the highest point of a structure lightning rods are electrically bonded to the earth via conductor and electrode which allows electricity to pass through the building and disperse safely. A lightning rod or lightning conductor is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike.

If it does not have an easy route it may strike anywhere and seeks out things that are tall to find the fastest route to the ground. Everyone learns about lightning rods in grade school. If lightning hits the structure it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducted to ground through a wire instead of passing through the structure where it could start a fire or cause electrocution.