A lightning rod (US, AUS) or lightning conductor (UK) is a metal rod or metallic object mounted on top of a building, electrically bonded using a wire or electrical conductor to interface with ground or "earth" through an electrode, engineered to protect the building in the event of lightning strike. If lightning hits the building it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducted to ground through the wire, instead of passing through the building, where it could start a fire or cause electrocution.
A lightning rod is a single component in a lightning protection system. Lightning rods are also called finials, air terminals or strike termination devices. The lightning rod requires a connection to earth to perform its protective function. Lightning rods come in many different forms, including hollow, solid, pointed, rounded, flat strips or even bristle brush-like. The main attribute of all lightning rods is they are conductive.
Copper and its alloys are the most common materials used in lightning protection.
Read more about Lightning Rod: History, Lightning Protection System, Analysis of Strikes, Aircraft Protectors, Watercraft Protectors, Risk Assessment, Standards, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words lightning and/or rod:
“The lightning there is peculiar; it is so convincing! When it strikes a thing, it doesn’t leave enough of that thing behind for you to tell whether—well, you’d think it was something valuable, and a Congressman had been there.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Alas,
For the tireless heart within the little
Lady with rod that made them rise
From their noon apple-dreams, and scuttle
Goose-fashion under the skies!”
—John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)