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Grade 9General Physics

What happens when a lightning rod is not earthed?

Profile image of rishav kumar
12 Years agoGrade 9
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1 Answer

Profile image of Saurabh Koranglekar
6 Years ago
A Lightning rod without earthing is as good as any other conductor laying stray in open. If its not earthed then it wont work at all. There is nothing very fancy about the whole process. You need to connect both ends of a circuit to make current flow. An improper grounding connection can cause disaster sometimes as the lightening may find another route like plumbing to reach to the ground, which will produce the same effect as that of a lightning striking any building and can result in fire. Even simple grounding is not advisable for such a system. The area at the place of grounding is treated with saline water to increase conductivity.

Many times improper grounding renders the whole system inappropriate. Even sharp curves are avoided in the conductor connecting to the ground to reduce inductance. If ever curves are made then the radius is kept large to decrease inductance.