"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
"Dream, Dream, Dream! Conduct these dreams into thoughts, and then transform them into action."
- Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
20 Jan 2023
Did you know that a lightning bolt carries a charge that is so powerful that it can reach 30,000C, or nearly five times the temperature of the sun's surface? Each year, more than a billion bolts of lightning strike Earth, resulting in thousands of deaths, ten times as many injuries and tens of billions of dollars in damage.
Therefore it comes as a major breakthrough as scientists for the first time have been able to successfully steer lightning with super lasers. This was demonstrated during a series of intense storms at the peak of a Swiss mountain. The achievement paves the way for laser-based lightning protection systems at airports, launchpads, and tall buildings.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Photonics, Swiss researchers Aurélien Houard and colleagues describe how they transported a potent laser to the summit of the Säntis mountain in northeastern Switzerland and set it up next to a 124-meter telecom tower that experiences lightning strikes about 100 times per year.
Between July and September of last year, the scientists waited for storms to form and fired a total of more than six hours' worth of rapid laser pulses at thunderclouds. Four upward lightning discharges were deflected by the laser during the duration of the experiment, evident from the data in the equipment used to record lightning strikes.
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