Will it blow your modem, even if the phone line is NOT connected to it?

Will it make your answering machine act like it is on drugs?

Will it short out a caller ID box?

Will it cause an OPEN in in 1 line of a 4 conductor phone wire?

Will it losen the ground clamp from the phone wire gnd to the electrical
wire GND ?

Any thoughts from those who know?
Dave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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Dave,

Check out http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lightning/2.html
There are a few errors, but the essence is there. You'll have current in
the hundreds of thousands of Amperes. Nothing is sacred. Anything can be
fried (or spared). My neighbor's house was hit probably 10 or 15 years ago;
she showed me the light bulb that the bolt left/entered into. There is a
nice hole (no sharp edges, very round and smooth edges) in the bulb. It
burned out motors in her house. Quite a mess. She felt her hair stand on
edge when she was lying down on her couch and the bolt struck. Not
pleasant.

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim


"Dave or Debby" wrote in message
...
Will it blow your modem, even if the phone line is NOT connected to it?

Will it make your answering machine act like it is on drugs?

Will it short out a caller ID box?

Will it cause an OPEN in in 1 line of a 4 conductor phone wire?

Will it losen the ground clamp from the phone wire gnd to the electrical
wire GND ?

Any thoughts from those who know?
Dave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----


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"Jim Hampton" wrote in message
...
Dave,

Check out http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lightning/2.html
There are a few errors, but the essence is there. You'll have current in
the hundreds of thousands of Amperes. Nothing is sacred. Anything can be
fried (or spared). My neighbor's house was hit probably 10 or 15 years
ago;
she showed me the light bulb that the bolt left/entered into. There is a
nice hole (no sharp edges, very round and smooth edges) in the bulb. It
burned out motors in her house. Quite a mess. She felt her hair stand on
edge when she was lying down on her couch and the bolt struck. Not
pleasant.

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim

A friend of mine had his tower struck by lightning about that long ago too.
The tower was right next to the house and a chain link fence that circled
the yard and was grounded quite well. The lightning hit the tower, went into
the aluminum siding (which got loosened up badly along certain areas), made
a beatiful arc of 3 inches or so between the siding and where the fence post
for the yard started. When it ran along the fence, it blew off all the post
caps and welded the gate and car gate shut. It blew a hole 2 feet deep and 1
foot wide in the ground where it stopped in the corner of the yard. In the
house was even more fun. It killed most everything plugged in, even blowing
the plugs out of the sockets completely along a couple circuits. I lived in
the same town and thought a bomb had gone off. It was an early Sunday morn
and even miles away was wakened in a hurry. I got over there about 20
minutes after the fact and was surprised to see the hole in the corner of
the yard still smoking just a wee bit. There was even a bit of that glass
that lightning makes (i forget the name). Needless to say, they thought a
plane hit the house or something.
Makes you wonder how many house fires were started by aluminum siding,
antennae, and lightning.

"Jim Hampton" wrote in message ...
Dave,

Check out http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lightning/2.html
There are a few errors, but the essence is there. You'll have current in
the hundreds of thousands of Amperes. Nothing is sacred. Anything can be
fried (or spared). My neighbor's house was hit probably 10 or 15 years ago;
she showed me the light bulb that the bolt left/entered into. There is a
nice hole (no sharp edges, very round and smooth edges) in the bulb. It
burned out motors in her house. Quite a mess. She felt her hair stand on
edge when she was lying down on her couch and the bolt struck. Not
pleasant.

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim


"Dave or Debby" wrote in message
...
Will it blow your modem, even if the phone line is NOT connected to it?

Will it make your answering machine act like it is on drugs?

Will it short out a caller ID box?

Will it cause an OPEN in in 1 line of a 4 conductor phone wire?

Will it losen the ground clamp from the phone wire gnd to the electrical
wire GND ?

Any thoughts from those who know?
Dave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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well jim .........which way is it........up going down or down going
up.??? i had a friend of mine that came home from work one day
........and found a gaping hole in his roof right over the couch where
he watches tv when he is home......needless to say, being the nice guy
that i am ......i told him.......too bad, if it had been just a little
past 6 in the afternoon, it would have been much better......of course
alas he did not see the humor in that........however , it came down
the big pine tree in his yard and jumped over on his house and blew a
hole in the roof......how about them apples???

I believe I've read that "streamers" go up and there are a number of quick
strikes before the big show. Best bet is do a google search on lightning
and see what turns up. I haven't ever worked with the stuff (thank
heavens!) Of course, if anyone is in the way of it - does it matter if
it goes up or down? BTW there was an article in the newspaper in the last
week or so - some guy finally came home from extensive rehabilitation. He
still is far from normal. He was a boy scout and a tree was hit near where
he was standing. This occurred in the late 1990s and he just came home
within the last two weeks!

73 from Rochester, NY
Jim



"


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How a plasma wire is constructed and how lightning currents
flow are two completely different events - happen at different
times during a CG lightning event. How a streamer is built
has nothing to do with the OPs original question. Lightning,
as his question asks, is not going one direction. Lightning
is a powerful RF wave. IOW it goes both directions. BTW
powerful but typically not that much energy at a strike
location.

Jim Hampton wrote:
I believe I've read that "streamers" go up and there are a number of quick
strikes before the big show. Best bet is do a google search on lightning
and see what turns up. I haven't ever worked with the stuff (thank
heavens!) Of course, if anyone is in the way of it - does it matter if
it goes up or down? BTW there was an article in the newspaper in the last
week or so - some guy finally came home from extensive rehabilitation. He
still is far from normal. He was a boy scout and a tree was hit near where
he was standing. This occurred in the late 1990s and he just came home
within the last two weeks!

First appreciate what Franklin taught us in 1752. Lightning
seeks earth ground. Franklin demonstrated how to keep
lightning from seeking earth through church steeples. He gave
lightning a better, electrically shorter path to earth. We
call them lightning rods. However the rods really are not
protection. It is just that we humans tend to associate what
we see with the solution. Those lightning rods were only as
effective as their earth ground. And that is the point.
Protection from a direct lightning strike is defined by the
most critical component of a protection 'system' - earth
ground.

Today we give lightning many more paths to earth. Antenna
and utility wires. The most common source of a direct
lightning strike to a building is AC electric. Lightning
seeks earth ground. The shortest path to earth may be on AC
wire down the block, into your house, through houshold
appliances (destructively), to earth ground.

Just a Franklin demonstrated, damage from a direct lighting
strike is avoided IF it is earthed before it can enter a
building. CATV and satellite dish wires are suppose to
provide that protection. They are suppose to connect to
central earth ground before wire enters building. This is
required by code for human safety. It just also provides
direct strike lightning protection - if earth ground is
properly installed.

AC electric and phone wires cannot connect to earth
directly. So they make a connection to earth during the surge
via a surge protector. Again, the surge must be earthed
before it enters the building which is why telcos install such
protectors, for free, at the service entrance. However the
source of most destructive surges is also the one utility that
has no earth ground connection. AC electric is the most
common source of surges. And yet effective 'whole house'
protectors can be purchased for about $1 per protected
appliance.

Again, the surge protector really is not protection. It is
just that we humans tend to associate what we see with the
solution. The protector is made effective by the surge
protection it connects to - earth ground.

All this assumes the most critical component of a surge
protection 'system' exists. That means homes must meet and
typically should exceed post 1990 NEC requirements. The NEC
required ground should also be central earth ground to which
all incoming utilities connect.

Antennas also must be earthed for surge protection AND to
meet NEC requirements. A direct ground from antenna to earth
must be installed as required by human safety specifications
of the NEC (National Electrical Code). Also the antenna wire
should have some direct and short (less than 10 foot)
connection to central earth ground where it enters a
building. Damage from direct strikes to antennas also made
redundant by the quality of that earth ground and connection
to it.

Surge protectors are simple science. They are not always
required since some incoming wires can be connected to earth
ground without surge protectors. Either way, the
effectiveness of protection is defined by that central earth
ground. This art is discussed in two thread in the newsgroup
misc.rural entitled:
Storm and Lightning damage in the country 28 Jul 2002
Lightning Nightmares!! 10 Aug 2002
http://tinyurl.com/ghgv or http://tinyurl.com/ghgm

Many have posted misconceptions or irrelevant information.
For example, the surge from a direct strike is a radio
frequency transient - not some DC voltage. Connection to
central earth ground must be short (less than 10 feet),
direct, and independent because transient is RF. Details
described in that misc.rural discussion.

As you read this, that other newsgroup, and other posts,
always remember this fundamental point. A surge protector is
only as effective as its earth ground. Earthing is so
critical that any surge protector not discussing earthing is
not effective and often sold using urban myth or junk science
reasoning. Furthermore, effective surge protection has been
repeated proven effective since the 1930 meaning that surge
damage is directly traceable to human failure.


Dave or Debby wrote:
Will it blow your modem, even if the phone line is NOT connected
to it?

Will it make your answering machine act like it is on drugs?

Will it short out a caller ID box?

Will it cause an OPEN in in 1 line of a 4 conductor phone wire?

Will it losen the ground clamp from the phone wire gnd to the
electrical wire GND ?

Any thoughts from those who know?
Dave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave or Debby wrote:

Will it blow your modem, even if the phone line is NOT connected to it?

It can.


Will it make your answering machine act like it is on drugs?


It's possible.

Will it short out a caller ID box?


Maybe.

Will it cause an OPEN in in 1 line of a 4 conductor phone wire?


Again, possible.
Will it losen the ground clamp from the phone wire gnd to the electrical
wire GND ?

If the ground line clamp got hot enough, and it was a direct strike,
you bet your ass.

Any thoughts from those who know?
Dave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-SSB