Lightning

[alone]

At 11:56 AM 8/3/00 +0200, you wrote:

>The discharge ionizes the air, making the discharge visible. Maybe this
>ionization causes the crackles and pops on TV and radio, not the current
>of the discharge itself? Marconi used a spark transmitter for his first
>experiments with radio using Rhumkorff induction coils? Was it the current
>of the discharge directly causing the EM waves? (Gee, as an EE I should
>know this, been playing with computers too long :-)
>
>Rick Jansen
>__


hehe.. im enjoying reading all about the lightning stuff. amazed from the 
high V experiments.(shrunken quarters!!!)
i can only contribute a small fact. that few years ago i was on a top of a 
relative high buidling in my city ,in a middle of a lightning storm
On the top of the building was a Lighting attraction spear  (i dont know 
how to call it in english)
i hoped to see one from an extreme close range and maybe even take a 
picture with my reflex camera in long exposure picture taking.

The strange thing was that before a lightning struck down there  was that 
buildup noise from the rod thing. like a hum or something.
after everything was lighted , it muted. and again started to build up 
noise till the next one.
i must state that i failed to see the lighting trajectory towards the rod. 
wasnt so exotic like i thought it should be.

Alon

fan.