Ligtning Strikes
I’ve written before about ways to prevent serious damage being done to your on-board electronics as a result of a lightning strike. Here is an article that makes some interesting statements about the way we try to avoid being struck by lightning. And you will learn that over an 80-year life span, your chances of being involved in a lightning strike are about 1 in 3,000 (averaged worldwide stat)….
“Devices claiming to reduce your chances of being struck, by bleeding ions or electrostatic charge off of your masthead, do not work. If the device increases your mast height, it will actually increase your probability of being struck. This opinion was rendered in response to my direct question on the subject, and was unequivocal.”
There is mounting physical and theoretical evidence as well as acceptance in peer reviewed journals that there are things that can be done to mitigate the chances of direct lightning attachment. The fact that tall objects are sometimes struck on the side rather than the top and field experiments that showed a preference for blunt over sharp rods all demonstrate that there is more to this phenomenon than merely the highest point always being struck! However it is true that point discharge based devices that claim to bleed off the induced image charge do not work.
http://www.lightningelectrotechnologies.com