Beijing TOWE was invited to record CCTV science program“JUST SO”

On December 13th 2017, as a well-known lightning protection enterprise in the industry, Beijing (TOWE) was invited by the CCTV science channel “Just So” to offer a program recording to explain the relevant knowledge of lightning rods and lightning.

This is a popular science column, characterized by experimental experience. It finds problems in everyday life that people do not see, and gives scientific inquiry by questioning hypotheses and experimental investigations. This recording carries out a series of popular science and experiments around the hazards of lightning, lightning protection and other related lightning knowledge.

Lightning, it is not strange to us. When the storm comes, it is often accompanied by thunder and lightning. The emergence of lightning will produce shock voltages of up to tens of thousands of volts and even hundreds of thousands of volts. The powerful voltage is enough to break through insulators to short the equipment, even direct disasters such as combustion and explosion, and people are struck by lightning. The consequences are more unimaginable.

There are many ways of the damage caused by lightning. In addition to the direct contact thunder in the outdoor environment, there is also a kind of dangerous lightning type. It is called inductive thunder. When thunderclouds come, all objects on the ground, especially conductors, gather a large number of bound charges which are opposite to the polarity of lightning due to electrostatic induction.          

After the discharge of the thundercloud to the ground, a very high electrostatic voltage will be produced, which often causes the discharge of the wires in the building to pose the electric spark, causing the fire or the explosion to threaten people’s safety or destroy the power supply system.

Encountering thunderstorm, even if indoors, there is still probably accidents happened without enough attention. To avoid the hazard of direct lightning and inductive lightning to people, a kind of lightning protection device comes, namely lightning rod. In thunderstorms, we sometimes see some tall trees being knocked down by thunder and lightning, whereas some tall buildings and towers around trees are safe and sound. Through observing carefully, we find there is always a metal object whose top is upright like embroidery needle on these buildings. That is lightning rod. As a TOWE Technical Engineer, Ms Zhang Lili serves as the keynote speaker and introduces the application and related knowledge of lightning rod through observation, experience and operation.

TOWE technical engineer Ms Zhang Lili explains related knowledge about lightning rod 

How exactly do the lightning rods work? Why do they look different?

Ms Zhang says, “We call lightning rod flashlight pole in a more professional way. The principle of ordinary lightning rod is introducing current to the ground by its own metal as a conductor. The current-limiting lightning rod, which has a current-limiting device inside, reduces lightning current and voltage to the ground by the current limiting device, and better protects the safety of building and people.”

lightning rod experiment 

How do the lightning rod protect the safety of people and buildings?

The lightning rod is actually a flash rod. Through the tip discharge, it introduces high-voltage lightning to itself, to make the lightning leak into the ground along the metal needle structure, thus preventing the lightning from striking other objects and causing damage and danger.

As a professional lightning protection company, TOWE reminds everyone to take more precautions against thunderstorms. If in house, you should unplug the exposed outdoor TV antenna plug or power plug. Don’t be close to the window. And you should be away from the leads such as lamp wire, electric wire and telephone wire. In the building without lightning protection device, you should be away from steel columns, water pipes and heating pipes, to avoid lightning current come into the body by them as media. In the open air, except for not answering a call, you must keep away from iron bar and other metal objects, so as to prevent the danger of lightning strikes.