T
T.M.Haja Sahib
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The explanation of the phenomenon by one Dr.Mousa,a lightning protection consultant,is given below in brief:
(1)Lightning struck the polythene that covers a large wood chip fuel pile. A 3 m x 0.5 m strip was blown of the polythene near the top, apparently where the lightning strike occurred.
(2)The lightning current flowed down from the top of the pile towards the two metal anchors of the polythene cover near the ground level.The lines formed by the 60 small holes in the polythene cover lead from the point of the lightning strike at top of the piles to those metal anchors.
(3)Unlike a pile of soil, the surface of the wood chip pile is not smooth or uniform. Rather, the chips are randomly oriented so that some sharp edges of some of them press against the polythene. Those sharp edges provided tips of additional paths to ground through the chip pile beneath, where a part of the lightning current branched away from the main paths toward the metal anchors. The localized heating and force at those entry points into the chip pile created the small holes.
(4)There was lack of charring which lightning would be expected to cause. If the current of the stroke was small, the resulting heating could just shrink the polythene enough to cause a tear or blow a strip.
The difficulty with the above explanation is the point no (3).It is evident from point (4) above that lightning current flow was not in the form of arc or spark down the wood pile towards the metal anchors.So the air inside the polythene cover would not be heated so much even near the sharp edges of the wood chips pressing against the polythene cover so that the portions of the polythene cover could be blown away.
My explanation is as below.
Unlike a pile of soil, the surface of the wood chip pile is not smooth or uniform. Rather, the chips are randomly oriented so that the absorption of rain water,accidentally leaked through openings in the polythene cover, by the wood chips was of varying degree.So when lightning current flowed down from the top of the wood pile towards the two metal anchors,the explosive force of steam formed in some of the wood chip was strong enough to shatter them and blow the resulting fragments through the polythene cover.(A slight depression in the individual openings shown in close up in the album may be observed).This led to the observed pattern on the polythene.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100691739453894624566/LightningStrikesWoodFuelPile#5649772608626476850
The explanation of the phenomenon by one Dr.Mousa,a lightning protection consultant,is given below in brief:
(1)Lightning struck the polythene that covers a large wood chip fuel pile. A 3 m x 0.5 m strip was blown of the polythene near the top, apparently where the lightning strike occurred.
(2)The lightning current flowed down from the top of the pile towards the two metal anchors of the polythene cover near the ground level.The lines formed by the 60 small holes in the polythene cover lead from the point of the lightning strike at top of the piles to those metal anchors.
(3)Unlike a pile of soil, the surface of the wood chip pile is not smooth or uniform. Rather, the chips are randomly oriented so that some sharp edges of some of them press against the polythene. Those sharp edges provided tips of additional paths to ground through the chip pile beneath, where a part of the lightning current branched away from the main paths toward the metal anchors. The localized heating and force at those entry points into the chip pile created the small holes.
(4)There was lack of charring which lightning would be expected to cause. If the current of the stroke was small, the resulting heating could just shrink the polythene enough to cause a tear or blow a strip.
The difficulty with the above explanation is the point no (3).It is evident from point (4) above that lightning current flow was not in the form of arc or spark down the wood pile towards the metal anchors.So the air inside the polythene cover would not be heated so much even near the sharp edges of the wood chips pressing against the polythene cover so that the portions of the polythene cover could be blown away.
My explanation is as below.
Unlike a pile of soil, the surface of the wood chip pile is not smooth or uniform. Rather, the chips are randomly oriented so that the absorption of rain water,accidentally leaked through openings in the polythene cover, by the wood chips was of varying degree.So when lightning current flowed down from the top of the wood pile towards the two metal anchors,the explosive force of steam formed in some of the wood chip was strong enough to shatter them and blow the resulting fragments through the polythene cover.(A slight depression in the individual openings shown in close up in the album may be observed).This led to the observed pattern on the polythene.
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