| From: | Michael Bourne |
| Date: | 1 Feb 2000 at 06:50:08 |
| Subject: | Re: PFS3 |
From: Michael Bourne <michael@circleware.org>
Hello Michael,
On Tuesday, you wrote:
> From: "Michael M. Rye" <mrye@execpc.com>
> Hi, Michael
> On 31-Jan-00, you wrote:
>> Even induction from lightning strikes (FYI: millions of amps in
>> the strike) can produce devastating effects in large antenna
>> arrays and any connected systems. Include simple cabling for
>> equipment in that and you get the idea.
>> From what I remember, lightning strikes are high _voltage_ ,
> not high amperage.
To put it simply:
It's both. A very high voltage is required initially to ionize the
air but the current which then flows is very high indeed, as
stated.
It's current (rate of flow) that vaporizes copper etc not voltage...
that's just "pressure" and does nothing but, by analogy, "push" the
coulombs/sec (amperes) through whatever the conducting medium
happens to be.
eg: what blows the tree apart is the heat generated turning the
moisture into superheated steam expanding almost instantaneously.
That heat is generated because the conducting medium has some
resistance so energy is lost in the form of a lot of heat in
sustaining that current through that medium.
Regards
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