wrote in message
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So,whatever became of Lightning Rods for homes and buildings? That is
old technology that still works very good.I think they are still
available on the market.They are simple long metal rods that attatch to
the roof and a cable or heavy wire that is grounded to a long rod driven
into the ground,I think.I think I will look into that for my house.
www.dogpile.com Lightning Rods
cuhulin

The lightning rod situation has reversed. The purpose of a pointy spike on
the roof or tower was to break down and arc at lower voltages, causing a
lower potential in the protected cone and encouraging lightning to go
somewhere else.

These days lightning ATTRACTERS are used. They look like large copper
spheres on top of a building which do the opposite of a pointy spike, they
breakdown at much much higher voltages (remember the Van Der Graf generators
from school). Then when lightning strikes it is conducted directly to a
really effective ground system via coaxial cable.

Old lightning rods also create a lot of RF noise as the corona discharge
increases.

http://www.ferret.com.au/articles/ce/0c01fcce.asp

Brad.