Why do circuit breakers trip when lightning strikes?
Lightning often strikes power lines, or the protective ground wires above transmission lines. The power company uses special protective devices, called arresters, to safely divert abnormally high voltages to ground before they can cause damage to the power company's equipment. However, the high currents and fast rise-time of some lightning strikes can sometimes result in temporary flashovers of the insulators that normally insulate and support the power lines from grounded poles and towers.Once an electrical arc jumps across the insulator, the electrical power in the lines now has a shorter path (a "short circuit") to ground or to other nearby power (or "phase") lines. The power company uses protective relays that can detect the abnormal current flowing to ground or between phases. The protection relay commands a high-voltage circuit breaker to temporarily remove power to the affected line. Once power is removed, the electrical arc stops, the air recovers its insulating properties, and the short circuit disappears. The protection relay then commands the circuit breaker to reclose a short time later, and normal power delivery is resumed. Downstream customers only see a short loss of power during the time the breaker is open.Sometimes lightning hits a nearby tree, causing a limb to contact a power line, resulting in a short-circuit to ground. As before, the arcing fault is sensed and the circuit breaker is opened briefly, and the breaker then reclosed a short time later. However, when the breaker recloses, if the short circuit is still there, the protection relay will again cause the breaker to open, this time for a somewhat longer period of time. This sequence of opening and reclosing may continue several times, but after a fixed number of retries (set by the power company), the breaker will automatically lock in the "open" position, removing power from that circuit until linemen can remove the problem and manually reset the circuit breaker. In this case, downstream customers will experience an extended power outage.
What happens when lightning hits ice?
Yes lightning will send a shock through the ice and the energy can cause the ice to melt or break apart because the energy level changed. Lightning is not hot, it just has a lot of energy giving of the perception of heat (true with all objects).
Why does your hair stand up right before lightning strikes you?
Your hair is responding to the electrical potential difference that has occured between the earth and the clouds. The earth (which you are standing on) is positively charged and the cloud base becomes negatively charged. Once the potential difference is large enough nature will seek to equalize the imbalance and a large flow electrons occurs...lightning. You can simulate this by taking a plastic comb and rubbing it on a wool sweater. Which gives it a charge. Then pass the comb near your hair.
If you are struck by lightning, which of the five senses would u be likely to loose?
Thanks for asking this question - I learned something new today. :) The following quote is from this site: http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic299.... "The ear is the sense organ most commonly injured by lightning. Tympanic membrane rupture is common and may occur from concussive or explosive force, direct current entry (often associated with burns to the canal or disruption of the ossicles), or from basilar skull fracture."
Why is the flash of lightning seen earlier than the sound of thunder?
Lightning is seen earlier than thunder because light travels much faster than sound.The roar of thunder is the result of a shock wave produced when lightning super-heats the air through which it passes, causing that air to expand very rapidly. This rapid expansion of air creates a shock wave that travels outward at close to the speed of sound which is around 741 mph or 1,192 kph (exact speed of sound varies with air pressure and temperature, but it does not vary enough to be relevant to this answer). Light, on the other hand, travels at 186,000 miles per second (300,000 km per second).Consequently, the flash of light that we see travels from the lightning bolt that created it to our eyes so quickly that we might as well just think of it as instantaneous. Sound, however, takes approximately 5 seconds to travel one mile (3 seconds to travel one kilometer) resulting in the delay we notice in the sound of thunder.Here is a fun and practical way to use this information. If you want to know approximately how far away a lightning strike was, wait for the flash of lightning and then start counting the seconds that pass before you hear the thunder. Divide the number of seconds by 5 to determine how many miles away the lightning strike was, or divide by 3 to determine the distance in kilometers.However, if you decide to try this experiment, please do it from inside a completely enclosed building with all doors and windows closed, because even if one bolt of lightning is far away, the next one might strike near you, or even exactly where you are, so take shelter!When thunder roars, get indoors!
Many lightning strikes occur within a cloud, rather than between clouds and the ground. Explain Why?
It takes a great deal more energy to discharge all the way to the ground. nature likes the path of least resistance
How often do elcetricity pylons get struck by lightning? What happens when this happens?
If the lightning strikes just the pylon, nothing very interesting happens -- it just follows the pylon to ground. If any of the charge strikes the conducting wires, the charge will follow the wire to the nearest switchyard, where it will probably pop a circuit breaker, causing a brief outage until the breaker resets. There is no insulation on modern transmission line wires -- you can't make insulation strong enough to keep lightning out.
What comes first: thunder or lighting?
Jeez, does anyone know basic physics here… Light travels at 186 THOUSAND miles a SECOND…11160000 mph.. Sound is 767 miles per hour…. light is 14500 times FASTER…. Well Sherlock, in your opinion, which comes first then? However, someone here DID say lightning causes thunder so it’s first… The force of lightning super heats the surrounding air which explodes (A lot of the energy is converted into sound) and resonates over a huge area. OK wiseguy, I hear you say…. I’ve been near a flash, and the sound was INSTANT…… It wasn’t but because one is so close, the brain cannot handle the speed difference….. it’s like µseconds because they are so close…so the brain says ‘same time’
What is the difference between lightning arrester and surge arrester?
Answer:-Lightning ArresterThe lightning conductor protects structures against direct lightning strikes.The lightning conductor material is arranged outside on the highest point of a structure.The lightning conductor has the function of capturing lightning strikes are succeptibles directly hitting the structure it protects.The Outdoor Installation Protection against Lightning consists of a sensor called lightning rod, at least oneconductorand a grounded outlet dedicated to each driver.The ground connections must be connected together and all the metal masses in the vicinity.Outdoor installation Protection against Lightning captures leads and flows into the ground the electric current from lightning.Surge ArresterThe arrester protects against indirect effects of lightning strikes.The SPD is the material placed inside of a structure on networks that transport electricity (power, communications, data ...).The arrester has the function to avoid surges in the network it protects.The Inside Installation of Protection against Lightning consists of one or more arresters systems.The arresters act as switches. The arresters close their circuit when surge appears on the network and they divert the current to earth ground.Indoor installation Protection against Lightning duct and flows surges and currents in the electrical grounding.