Why would this be impossible?

Question

It is well-known that lightning rods are struck by lightning simply for being the highest object around.

Why can't they build really tall structures that act as a giant magnet for lightning, with a huge ball on top, so that in a stormy area, all lightning in the area is attracted to it and drawn down to be stored as electricity?

Perhaps even tap the free electricity in the ionosphere?

Why don't they want you to know about free energy? Is the $$$ they make off oil & gas stopping them from letting this out?

Just 1 lightning bolt can have enough electricity to power incredible amounts of things, & a few key storm prone areas...

You get the idea, hundreds of feet high, but this time, not a kite, but a "lightning" rod for storing electricity.

Answer 1

The idea is great and has been looked at several times, unfortunately lightning doesn't always play ball. The lightning conductors work as the easiest route for the lightning to be earth, hence metal is placed on high building. There are a few theories on how lightning is produced but it’s not completely known.

A bolt of lightning can travel at a speed of 45 km/s (kilometres per second) (100,000 mph, 160,000 km/h). It can reach temperatures approaching 28,000 °C (50,000 °F), hot enough to fuse soil or sand into glass channels. This itself would create a large technical problem but also a very costly one.

An average bolt of negative lightning carries a current of 40 kA (kiloamperes), although some bolts can be up to 120 kA, and transfers a charge of 5 coulombs and 500 MJ (megajoules), or enough energy to power a 100 watt lightbulb for just under two months. The voltage depends on the length of the bolt: with the dielectric breakdown of air being 3 million volts per meter, this works out at about one billion volts for a 300m (1,000 feet) lightning bolt. This type of power would destroy almost all electrical components and also the fluctuation in power would cause a standard build to be extremely inefficient.

Different locations have different potentials (voltages) and currents for an average lightning strike. For example, Florida, with the largest number of recorded strikes in a given period, has a very sandy ground saturated with salt water, and is surrounded by water. California, on the other hand, has fewer lightning strikes (being dryer). Arizona, which has very dry, sandy soil and a very dry air, has cloud bases as high as 6,000-7,000 feet above ground level, and gets very long, thin, purplish discharges, which crackle; while Oklahoma, with cloud bases about 1,500-2,000 feet above ground level and fairly soft, clay-rich soil, has big, blue-white explosive lightning strikes, that are very hot (high current) and cause sudden, explosive noise when the discharge comes. The difference in each case may consist of differences in voltage levels between clouds and ground. Research on this is still ongoing.

NASA scientists have also found that the radio waves created by lightning clear a safe zone in the radiation belt surrounding the earth. This zone, known as the Van Allen Belt slot, can potentially be a safe haven for satellites, offering them protection from the Sun's radiation.

The first process in the generation of lightning is still a matter of debate: scientists have studied root causes ranging from atmospheric perturbations (wind, humidity, and air pressure, to the impact of solar wind and accumulation of charged solar particles. Large quantities of ice in the clouds are suspected to enhance lightning development. This charge will neutralize itself through any available path. This may assist in the forcible separation of positive and negative charge carriers within a cloud or air, and thus help in the formation of lightning.

Lightning can also occur within the ash clouds from volcanic eruptions, or can be caused by violent forest fires which generate sufficient dust to create a static charge.

Although a good idea and if it was a feasible option it could create an environment form of power at present technological levels it is not possible or cost effective to obtain useable electricity from lightning

Answer 2

We know it, the electricity in the ionosphere. Lightnings carys energy, this is true. but the form of this energy is different. The time period of a lightning is just a part of a second.
The curent is high , but it is not enough to use or storage the lightnings energy. The result is this: the lightnings dont have enough energy, its not noteworthy.

Answer 3

Thus far, we don't have the ability to store the energy of just one bolt of lightning, let alone the many that strike during a thunderstorm.

Answer 4

As some of your answerers have shown, the phenomenon is governed by too many unknown and unpredictable factors to be of much use to mankind at the moment. The energy and resources needed for this type of 'energy alchemy' can be better devoted to more feasible projects like nuclear fusion which promise trully unlimited supplies of energy to mankind. And talking about energy storage and utilization, my information is that if we could somehow store all the energy radiated from the sun in one second and release it as and when needed, it could supply all of mankind's energy needs for 500,000 years! Worth trying that one?

Answer 5

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