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lightning rod |
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lightning rod, a rod made of materials, especially metals, that are good conductors of electricity, which is mounted on top of a building or other structure and attached to the ground by a cable. By virtue of its position, shape, and conductivity the rod attracts lightning lightning, electrical discharge accompanied by thunder , commonly occurring during a thunderstorm . The discharge may take place between one part of a cloud and another part (intracloud), between one cloud and another (intercloud), between a cloud and the earth, or ..... Click the link for more information. discharges much more readily than the building on which it is mounted. When struck, the connecting cable carries the discharge safely into the ground, preventing any damage to the building. Benjamin Franklin 2)). The phenomenon of electricity interested him deeply, and in 1748 he turned his printing business over to his foreman, intending to devote his life to science. His experiment of flying a kite in a thunderstorm, which showed that lightning is an electrical discharge (but which ..... Click the link for more information. , in his kite experiment (1752), proved that lightning and electricity are identical and subsequently invented the lightning rod. |
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She sat by the window trying to make some sort of plan, watching the lightning play over the hilltop and the streams of rain chasing each other down the lightning rod. A lightning rod is ascended without difficulty, especially by a sailor; but, when he had arrived as high as the window, which lay far to his left, his career was stopped; the most that he could accomplish was to reach over so as to obtain a glimpse of the interior of the room. The money for the hardwood floors went into lightning rods. |
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lightning rod
