| The Breakroom > The Water Cooler |
| Really Bad Thunderstorm |
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| vtsteam:
Tom, I'd never heard of a fulgurite before you mentioned it and I looked it up. And of course never have seen one -- unless I didn't know it when I did. One thing though now that I'm thinking about it. I have a mystery boulder on my property in the woods about 3 feet across and half in the earth that is shattered as if some tremendous force hit it where it lay. I've often wondered what could have caused it to break like that. I don't think it was frost -- it didn't seem porous, and it wasn't just a couple of cracks that opened. It really looks like it was hit by something. Perhaps it was lightning, now that we're talking about it. I know of three nearby pines that were hit by lightning in the last 10 years. And I saw one of them when it happened. It was a huge "cabbage" pine (white pine with multiple leaders) -- maybe 120 feet tall. It just exploded dropping shards of wood out 50 feet all around, one 15 footer chunk of leader impaled in the ground like a dart, and leaving just one leader standing. That's about 100 feet from where the house stands now -- though I was just building it at the time. Another one was the lone tall pine at the top of a ridge -- a landmark -- left by a logging company 15 years ago. That one was hit just last year -- though I didn't see it. It was green through the winter, then suddenly dead with bark torn off and missing limbs about midway through the summer. That Benjamin Franklin and his kite story -- I mean the guy was pretty unobservant to have tried that. |
| tom osselton:
There was a sequoia tree in victoria bc that was hit by lightning a few years ago it just exploded the lightning turns the sap into a steam like condition I belive it was at goverment house. And as far as ben Franklin is concerned I still can't see how he lived! I wonder if he had the kite anchored or possibly the string was on the ground! Some areas fire rockets up with a fine wire in tow to control the strike / study or some have a wire anchored in sand to make fulgurite for sale purposes they are a work of art. |
| PekkaNF:
Some places thunder storms are scary thing. I hope everybody is fine. Once I was in a car on hills on Chihuahua the thunder storm was deffening and amount of water that run down the mountains was incredible. Cascades on dry hill sides. When a thunderbolt hits the rock nearby you are not likely to forget it anytime soon. How are grounding and thunder strike protection code for residental small buildings in USA. Here it looks like rules are changed very often. My house has a gound pole, ground bar and 16 sg mm wire goes at the attic from one end of the house to the other end, where antena mast is. Looks like a fire hazard to me. Now I think every corner of the tin roof must be grounded on a loop that is underground and circulates the house. Pekka |
| vtsteam:
Tom, wow, rockets and fine wires -- sounds like Ben Franklin all over again. Do they light the fuse with a match and then run like heck, or worse, use electrical ignition with a switch button to launch :lol: (just kidding, I suppose it's really R/C or timer launched.) Now if had one of those fulgerites I'd be tempted pour metal in it and crack it open to get a casting of the lightning. If you upset one end of the casting and threaded the other you'd have a real lightning bolt. :lol: :ddb: Pekka, I don't know whether lightning protection is mandated for private homes elsewhere, but where I live there are no building codes whatsoever. I could live in a teepee if I wanted. That's rare in the U.S. these days, but a situation I greatly appreciate. I'm sure that right to live as you wish will eventually disappear here too. About every four years somebody starts to agitate for zoning and building codes locally -- usually a newcomer to the area from the city, rather than a native. Generally they lose popularity, are charged higher rates for services than other locals, and put two and two together and quieten down eventually. After 20 years or so they develop an accent, put up a work shed on the sly, and become indistinguishable from everybody else. |
| Stilldrillin:
Very pleased you and your neighbours are "ok", Steve! :bugeye: --- Quote from: vtsteam on July 04, 2014, 07:49:54 PM --- Well, we're due for "normalcy" whatever that is now, I hope. --- End quote --- Normal, is good........ :thumbup: David D |
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