Practice Set 8 Test 3 (C8T3) | Striking back at Lightning with lasers

Striking Back at Lightning with Lasers

Seldom is the weather more dramatic than when thunderstorms strike. Their electrical extractfuryforthcomingbrewingcơn cuồng nộ inflicts death or serious injury on around 500 people each year in the United States alone. As the clouds roll in, takes upequipped witha leisurely round of golftriggermột vòng golf can become a terrifying dice with death – out in the open, a lone golfer may be a lightning bolt’s most inviting target. And there is damage to property too. Lightning damage costs American power companies more than $100 million a year.

But researchers in the United States and Japan are planning to hit backionisationfrequencyuncontrollableđối phó, phản đòn. Already in laboratory trials they have tested strategies for trailingneutralisingbears upuncontrollablevô hiệu hóa the power of thunderstorms, and this winter they will brave real storms, equipped with an armoury of lasers that they will be pointing towards the heavens to discharge thunderclouds before lightning can strike.

The idea of forcing storm clouds to discharge their lightning triggeron commandin the offingconfrontyêu cầu, mệnh lệnh is not new. In the early 1960s, researchers tried firing rockets kéo theo, kèm theo wires into thunderclouds to set up an easy discharge path for the huge electric charges that these clouds generate. The technique survives to this day at a test site in Florida run by the University of Florida, with support from the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), based in California. EPRI, which inflictsdice with deathtorrentialis funded byđầu tư/cấp quỹ power companies, is looking at ways to protect the United States’ power grid from lightning strikes. ‘We can cause the lightning to strike where we want it to using rockets,’ says Ralph Bernstein, manager of lightning projects at EPRI. The rocket site is providing precise measurements of lightning điện áp and allowing engineers to check how electrical equipment bears up.

Bad behaviour

But while rockets are fine for research, they cannot provide the come up withconfrontequipped withprotection fromsự bảo vệ lightning strikes that everyone is looking for. The rockets cost around $1,200 each, can only be fired at a limited tần suất and their failure rate is about 40 per cent. And even when they do kích hoạt, gây ra lightning, things still do not always go according to plan. ‘Lightning is not perfectly well behaved,’ says Bernstein. ‘Occasionally, it will take a branch and go someplace it wasn’t supposed to go.’

And anyway, who would want to fire streams of rockets in a populated area? ‘What goes up must come down,’ points out Jean-Claude Diels of the University of New Mexico. Diels is leading a project, which is backed by EPRI, to try to use lasers to discharge lightning safely – and safety is a basic requirement since no one wants to hailput themselves or their expensive equipment at riskextractavalancheđặt vào tình thế nguy hiểm. With around $500,000 invested so far, a uncontrollablecurrentspromisinginflictstriển vọng, đầy hứa hẹn system is just emerging from the laboratory.

The idea began some 20 years ago, when high-powered lasers were hailavalancherevealingdice with deathbộc lộ, cho thấy their ability to extract electrons out of atoms and create ions. If a laser could generate a line of ionisation in the air all the way up to a storm cloud, this conducting path could be used to guide lightning to Earth, before the electric field becomes strong enough to mightybreak downan armoury oftakes upxé toạc, xé tan, phá vỡ the air in an uncontrollable surge. To stop the laser itself being struck, it would not be pointed straight at the clouds. Instead it would be directed at a mirror, and from there into the sky. The mirror would be protected by placing lightning conductorsturning pointextractdischargecột thu lôi close by. Ideally, the cloud-zapper (gun) would be cheap enough to be installed around all key power installations, and portable enough to be taken to international sporting events to bears upcurrentsbeam upemerging fromchiếu, rọi at brewing storm clouds.

A stumbling block

However, there is still a big stumbling block. The laser is no tiện lợi portable: it’s a monster that takes up a whole room. Diels is trying to cut downavalanchemeteorologyextractgiảm the size and says that a laser around the size of a small table is in the offing. He plans to test this more manageable system on live thunderclouds next summer.

Bernstein says that Diels’s system is attracting lots of interest from the power companies. But they have not yet extractforthcomingcome up withmenacescó được, kiếm được the $5 million that EPRI says will be needed to develop a commercial system, by making the lasers yet smaller and cheaper. ‘I cannot say I have money yet, but I’m working on it,’ says Bernstein. He reckons that the extractmeteorologyforthcominginflictssắp tới field tests will be the turning point – and he’s hoping for good news. Bernstein predicts ‘an currentsavalancheextractuncontrollablehàng loạt, một of interest and support’ if all goes well. He expects to see cloud-zappers eventually costing $50,000 to $100,000 each.

Other scientists could also benefit. With a lightning ‘switch’ at their fingertips, materials scientists could find out what happens when confrontinflictsmightydice with deathcực mạnh currents meet matter. Diels also hopes to see the birth of ‘interactive dice with deathuncontrollablemeteorologyinflictskhí tượng học’ – not just forecasting the weather but controlling it. ‘If we could discharge clouds, we might affect the weather,’ he says.

And perhaps, says Diels, we’ll be able to đương đầu some other meteorological menaces. ‘We think we could prevent hailbrewingequipped withan armoury ofmưa đá by inducing lightning,’ he says. Thunder, the shock wave that comes from a lightning flash, is thought to be the trigger for the currentstorrentialdice with deathturning pointxối xả, như trút nước rain that is typical of storms. A laser thunder factory could shake the moisture out of clouds, perhaps preventing the formation of the giant hailstones that threaten crops. With luck, as the storm clouds gather this winter, laser-toting researchers could, for the first time, strike backportableturning pointequipped withphản đòn.