3 ms·
Out of curiosity if the method of grounding lightning clouds is considered a viable one, what would be wrong with a weather balloon and a reel of conductive wir
by textgel 6y ago
Out of curiosity if the method of grounding lightning clouds is considered a viable one, what would be wrong with a weather balloon and a reel of conductive wire; too much height required? too costly?
I'd heard of high altitude parasail kites being used for power generation (tie the kite to a winch and a generator) so it can't be completely impossible.
Edit:
Or is this the XKCD search and rescue robot justification!
- bigbubba 6y agoMaybe the violent winds of a thunderstorm would be a problem for tethered kites or balloons? I guess it worked for Franklin though.
- h2odragon 6y agoThere was at least one government backed (NOAA?) project, some while back, that was using rockets with ground wires to draw lightning for study.