Lightning Rod

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Lightning rod Written By: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Learn More in these related Britannica articles: When a lightning leader comes near the building, the lightning rod initiates a discharge that travels upward and connects with it, thus controlling the point of attachment of lightning….

Lightning rod s and metallic conductors can be used to protect a structure by intercepting and diverting the lightning current into the ground as harmlessly as possible.

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When lightning is likely to occur, people are advised to stay indoors or in a car, away from open…. Electrical impedance , measure of the total opposition that a circuit or a part of a circuit presents to electric current. Impedance includes both resistance and reactance qq.

The resistance component arises from collisions of the current-carrying charged particles with the internal structure of the conductor. The reactance component is an….

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Ground , in electricity, electrical contact with the Earth, which remains essentially at a constant potential. See the full definition for lightning rod in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Words that rhyme with lightning rod. Encyclopedia article about lightning rod. What made you want to look up lightning rod? Please tell us where you read or heard it including the quote, if possible. Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Our Word of the Year justice , plus 10 more. Yeggs, jackrollers, footpads, and more.

How we chose 'justice'. And is one way more correct than the others? King George III had his palace equipped with a blunt lightning rod. When it came time to equip the colonies' buildings with lightning rods, the decision became a political statement. The favored pointed lightning rod expressed support for Franklin's theories of protecting public buildings and the rejection of theories supported by the King.

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The English thought this was just another way for the flourishing colonies to be disobedient to them. Franklin's lightning rods could soon be found protecting many buildings and homes. The lightning rod constructed on the dome of the State House in Maryland was the largest "Franklin" lightning rod ever attached to a public or private building in Ben's lifetime.

It was built in accord with his recommendations and has had only one recorded instance of lightning damage. The pointed lightning rod placed on the State House and other buildings became a symbol of the ingenuity and independence of a young, thriving nation, as well as the intellect and inventiveness of Benjamin Franklin.

The object pictured above is part of The Franklin Institute's protected collection of objects. All rights are reserved. Join Our Email List.

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The Franklin Institute Map Menu. In one of his letters, he described the shock as " Franklin articulated these thoughts as he pondered the usefulness of a lightning rod: Would not these pointed rods probably draw the electrical fire silently out of a cloud before it came nigh enough to strike, and thereby secure us from that most sudden and terrible mischief! Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully pilot an airplane for the first time in human history.