08-21-2008, 07:53 AM
Here is a REALLY wonky explanation, but here goes.
You would think that houses with steel roofs would get hit by lightning. You would thing, more so, that sailboats with aluminum masts would get hit too. The fact is, they very very rarely do. Why?
The answer is that IF the metal roof isnt bonded to the ground, it behaves in much the same way as a Van de Graff generator. As the wind blows across the roof surface, certain quantities of electrons are literally carried away by the wind, especially with clean water in it. They are not readily recovered because the structure under the roof is typically insulating. This imparts a charge-negative-which is more like the thundercloud than the ground around the house. If you panic, like many do on sailboats, and you bond the whole thing together and to the water, you not only lose this magic forcefield but electrolyze the whole works.
Electrolysis is the single most common cause of rig failure in boats I've seen.
You would think that houses with steel roofs would get hit by lightning. You would thing, more so, that sailboats with aluminum masts would get hit too. The fact is, they very very rarely do. Why?
The answer is that IF the metal roof isnt bonded to the ground, it behaves in much the same way as a Van de Graff generator. As the wind blows across the roof surface, certain quantities of electrons are literally carried away by the wind, especially with clean water in it. They are not readily recovered because the structure under the roof is typically insulating. This imparts a charge-negative-which is more like the thundercloud than the ground around the house. If you panic, like many do on sailboats, and you bond the whole thing together and to the water, you not only lose this magic forcefield but electrolyze the whole works.
Electrolysis is the single most common cause of rig failure in boats I've seen.