Rocket Triggered Lightning Research

[iPhoenix4]

As someone living outside of the US: We're doomed. :p

[timbowman1]

Time to get that Lichtenberg scar!

[cptkostya]

Welcome 133,999 user. We were waiting for you.

[coochavt]

@cptkostya thanks, happy to have seen it!

[MiamiBeachMan]

I love how everybody cheers and gets happy when the lightning happens! This is so awesome!

[zizwop]

This is like Benjamin Franklin stuff for modern times, and a hell of a lot safer. How can I get a job there?

[VWFringe]

I'm having fun imagining a car powered by this, and how it would prolly leave divets in the asphalt wherever you fire off a rocket to juice up, hehe.

[TheUtahraptor1]

I think its copper they are using, you can tell by the green glow as it vapourises and combusts

[davidls11]

I always wondered if you could do the same thing with helium filled balloons.

[coldlogic1]

@davidls11 helium balloons would take to long to get up there, but you tottally could.

[davidls11]

@coldlogic1 So if I were to tie some grounded balloons to my boss' car during a thunderstorm...

[WhefXLR]

It's tempting to dislike this video for the lulz.

[tuxicle]

@WhefXLR Oh, you rebel, you!

[elpazo100]

nice



[Chev427BB]

Because science

[Scraleontis]

how high would the rocket have to go?

[zizwop]

Benjamin Franklin would be so proud of this.

[tstormchik]

Love the LRG! Stuff like that was what made me decide to pursue a career in meteorology. Keep up the research and maybe I can be there once I go through grad school (after I finish the second bachelor's) :D

[Nitoryuu]

Wow thats awesome xD

[satansam]

This is superb! I'll be spooling through this frame by frame to recreate the effect for a game I'm working on.

[Bokkensword]

Thor you dick knock it off!

[KrikeTube7]

Pikachu uses Thunder!!

[SkippyLeDoo]

@KrikeTube7 IT'S SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!

[spamviking]

Hope u guys had a flux capacitator rigged up to it.

[Bubbiea]

dam

[Warrior536]

FUCK YOU NATURE! WE control the lightning now bitch!

[amsterdamob]

@Warrior536

LOL!

Awesome.

[MrFeelingAwesome]

So what exactly is going on here? And please explain in laymen's terms because i dont have a degree in physics.

[Darthane]

@MrFeelingAwesome They wait until lightning is about to strike (using special measuring gear) and then launch a rocket with a wire attached to it (and to the ground), when the rocket goes up it becomes "the best path to earth" for the lightning.

[orbitaldan]

@MrFeelingAwesome Lightning is a movement of electricity from the clouds to the ground, or the ground to the clouds (it happens so fast it looks about the same either way). As the clouds move in the sky, they gather electrical charge, which can be thought of as a kind of pressure. Air, however, is a 'dielectric', which means that it resists electricity pushing through it, sort of like a dam holding back water that would otherwise flow downstream. (continued...)

[orbitaldan]

@MrFeelingAwesome The rocket either carries a wire trailing behind it, or leaves behind a trail of gasses which are less resistant to electrical movement. Either way, it creates an easier path for the charge pressure to get across. Following the water analogy, the rocket is like cutting a hole in the dam at a specific place - that way you know where the water will come out.

[WireMan7620]

So cool!!! How much air pressure does it take to launch the rocket?

[Qiqidh]

who said learning couldn't be fun?

[timthearcher1]

STOP IT! You aint god babe you shouldnt be makin lightning

[TuhdTheTroll]

don't attatch the spool to the rocket. leave the spool on the ground and let the rocket pull what it needs. make sure your spool is free to unwind

[squirrelgecko]

designing my own launch mechanism now. just have to design a stable rocket. the wire spool on the back is really heavy.

[neutrinotau]

Now I know how to get my 1.21 Gigawatts.

[VirtRampage]

wire tied to a rocket... thats some high tech

[ranma763]

@VirtRampage Are you absolutely positive about that?

[kokilot]

its fake

[Rikus84]

@kokilot : What???

It's a Research of the University of Florida!!!!

See the link in the description of the video, before talking,

[UltraBibendum]

@Rikus84 its fake

[Rikus84]

@UltraBibendum : why?

Explain, please.

[UltraBibendum]

@Rikus84 You edited the video

[Rikus84]

@UltraBibendum : I take the video from the site of Research of the University of Florida and I publish it.

See the link in the video description.

[UltraBibendum]

@Rikus84 fake

[Rikus84]

@UltraBibendum : are you a physicist specialize in lightning)

Have you ever read one of their publication?

lightning.ece.ufl.edu/general.­html#2

[Rikus84]

@UltraBibendum : so educated.

Thanks to prove your ignorance.

[b0utch]

@UltraBibendum do you seriously think this is fake!?

[Cchrisbud813]

I would love to be there watching one of these experiments in person.

[XTRUTHDRUMSX]

I remember seeing this on TV before, freakin badass. Ben franklin had a key attached to a fuckin kite to harness electricity, we ramped it up 21st century and shot a rocket into a lightning cloud with a wire trailing behind it hahahaha

[74AC240PC]

You can see a second trail of smoke from the vaporized wire in the second launch. Cool!

[HarryHydro]

Would it be possible to channel the energy into a huge carbon pile and harness the heat generated? Maybe water tanks in the pile.

[O3Cl]

I've got to try this... 5*+ video

[BountyHunter106]

I am assuming you guys trailed a thin wire behind the rocket as you launched it? Looking to do something similar for a school project...so any tips would be helpful!!!

[BrunsAce]

I saw a special about this a while back. There is a wire attached to the rocket to the ground. The rockets are triggered by a hose connected to a switch. You blow in the hose to launch so there is no conductive path back to the launch control. They also have equipment on hand to measure the cloud's electrical potential and launch only when a strike in imminent.

[funchords]

Good tip!

[Pyrotrons]

Incredible!!!