On Tue, 20 Jul 2004, Paul M Foster wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 19, 2004 at 09:12:31PM -0400, Ken Elliott wrote:
>
> > >>Lightning will take any path, conductive or not, particularly if there's
> > something solid (like PVC) to guide it.
> >
> > Well, not exactly... Lightning is electricity. It requires a conductive
> > path. It passes through the air when the electrical stress caused the
> > nitrogen to break down and ionize (associated with partial discharge, or
> > "corona"). I've never seen it hit PVC, unless it was badly contaminated or
> > contained conductors. I could be wrong, but I used to do a lot of high
> > voltage testing, and designed 150 kV insulators and bushings.
>
> I've heard and read a lot of amazing stories about how lightning travels
> when it strikes. Amazingly circuitous, sometimes. And not necessarily by
> the path you might consider the most conductive. After all, this isn't a
> nearby 150kV line, but a million volt behemoth.
>
> I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm inclined to think that if it
> strikes your house, which is connected to another structure by an
> overhead length of nonconductive (empty) PVC, it may well travel across
> the PVC to get to the other structure. It certainly wouldn't want to put
> it to the test to prove the rightness or wrongness of that theory. ;-}
It may be empty, but it won't be dry (rain), and rainwater, being
non-pure, is conductive.
But you're right, I wouldn't bet $n000 on that.
--
-eben ebQenW1@EtaRmpTabYayU.rIr.OcoPm home.tampabay.rr.com/hactar
"God does not play dice" -- Einstein
"Not only does God play dice, he sometimes throws
them where they can't be seen." -- Stephen Hawking
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