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From: ken@rochester.arpa (Ken Yap)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Lightning Rod Problem
Message-ID: <455@sol.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 5-Jul-87 05:56:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: sol.455
Posted: Sun Jul  5 05:56:48 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 5-Jul-87 08:39:18 EDT
References: <204600003@prism> <616@neoucom.UUCP>
Reply-To: ken@rochester.UUCP (Ken Yap)
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept, Rochester, NY
Lines: 9

|Since the purpose of a lightning rod is to dissipate static that
|could attract a lightning bolt.  It seems that the increased
|surface area of a ball-tipped lightning rod would be helpful.

No. The purpose of a lightning rod is to preferentially attract
lightning.  A sharp point does much better at breaking down the
dielectric (air) than a smooth surfaceveyic R