3 ms·
Pretty cool being able to direct lightning like this. For extra points, use the lightning to charge the laser. But thinking about it, doesn't a large area like
by lordnacho 3y ago
Pretty cool being able to direct lightning like this. For extra points, use the lightning to charge the laser.
But thinking about it, doesn't a large area like an airport just have several lightning rods? Seems a heck of a lot simpler in terms of operation and maintenance than a laser.
- neom 3y agoI was thinking maybe it could be helpful in the instance of forest fires. Might be able to direct lightning to areas that have been deliberately deforested/fire mitigation is in place?
- aftoprokrustes 3y agoMy understanding is that a lightning rod can only protect a maximal radius of 60m (see https://what-if.xkcd.com/16/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/16/). This would mean a mximal distance of 120m between rods in the areas you want to protect completely. I can imagine this is difficult, in particular if the rods need to be so high that they need support cables to avoid falling at the first wind gust. I would expect that modern airports already offer the maximal protection attainable with lightning rods. Any parts of the airport currently not protected probably does not make sense to protect with this technology.