Why do lightning rods attract'?

Answer 1

The main way a lightning rod protects a building is by being higher than any other part of the building it maintains a cone of uncharged air over the building. This uncharged air cannot become charged when a thunderstorm passes over as the charges are continuously discharged through the ground wire from the rod to ground. As no charges can be built up within this cone, lightning cannot enter this cone to strike the building.

The second way a lightning rod protects a building is that any lightning directly above the building can only strike the tip of the lightning rod itself. The current will then be forced to follow the ground wire from the rod to ground, bypassing the building. However as this current can be in the megaampere range it is necessary to have the complete lightning rod system inspected after any such strike to be sure that parts have not been melted and that the lightning rod is still protecting the building!

Answer 2

it leads the lightning away from the house and onto the lightning rod Lightning, of course, is simply a huge discharge of static electricity. In its nature, it's no different from the spark from your finger to a doorknob; the difference is only in scale. The current flow is from the sky to the earth (or earth to sky depending on how you view it technically, which is immaterial to this discussion), via the path of least resistance--which for a number of reasons, is not always the shortest, or straightest. The air is a relatively high resistance medium, so the lightning will "prefer" most any solid object, such as house, tree, or human body. The current creates an enormous amount of heat in whatever it passes through, and this is generally what causes the problem, i.e., fire, explosion, etc. Thunder, like the "crack" you hear when your fingertip discharges to the doorknob, is the sound of superheated air expanding explosively. A living body, of course, like electronic devices, is further disrupted by the presence of the voltage/current itself. A lightning rod, then, is simply an effort to offer the discharge an easier path than through an object which might be damaged or destroyed by it.

Answer 3

Usually in a thunder storm, lightning will be attracted to the highest and best grounded object. A lightning rod is designed to attract the lightning to strike it, instead of the building. When it does, it conducts the electricity into the ground, and insulates it from the building, thus protecting it from electrical damage and fire.

Answer 4

An electric discharge such as lighting generates large amounts of heat if it moves through something that does not conduct electricity well. A lighting rod safely conducts electricity into the ground down a metal pathway that easily carries the current without generating large mounts of heat.

Answer 5

The main way a lightning rod protects a building is by being higher than any other part of the building it maintains a cone of uncharged air over the building. This uncharged air cannot become charged when a thunderstorm passes over as the charges are continuously discharged through the ground wire from the rod to ground. As no charges can be built up within this cone, lightning cannot enter this cone to strike the building.

The second way a lightning rod protects a building is that any lightning directly above the building can only strike the tip of the lightning rod itself. The current will then be forced to follow the ground wire from the rod to ground, bypassing the building. However as this current can be in the megaampere range it is necessary to have the complete lightning rod system inspected after any such strike to be sure that parts have not been melted and that the lightning rod is still protecting the building!

Answer 6

A lightening rod doesn't actually attract lightening. Their purpose is to divert the majority of the current away from the structure it strikes and carry it safely into the ground.

Answer 7

A lightning rod provides a path for the electricity to safely discharge into the ground with little resistance.