Five hundred thousand volts of man-made lightning leap a 28-inch gap in
Duke University's Lightning Laboratory. Howard Moffett, senior in elec¬
trical engineering from Greensboro, operates the controls from behind a sol¬
idly-grounded wire screen which serves to protect spectators and operator
from stray effects of the 15,000-ampere discharge. The Lightning Generator
is supported by the step-like structure in the background.
Man-made Lightning
It's •i n interevsfing proctvss. 21 nil
Mr. Vail ilcvsrribos it in sucli
simple terms Hint every layman
will be able to nnilersfaiHl its
.significance.
«л тлим:*
a. vail
College of Engineering. Duke University
ANGER. ONE-HALF MIL¬
LION VOLTS P Thus read* a
sign in tin1 Lightning Laltora-
tory «if the College of Engineering nt
Duke University. Tremendous though
this voltage may seem, it is the electric
potential actually created by the Elec¬
trical Engineering Department's
Lightning Generator — the only one
of its kind in the South, and one of
only
»
few in the entire nation.
"But why should the Duke engineers
want n Lightning Generator ? Of whtit
possible use could it be
Г
The answer
to rlnit question is a truly fascinating
story.
Man's history is one of warfare.
When he is not quarrelling with his
fellow.», he \< locked in hitter struggle
with the forces of nature. Not the
least of these forces is lightning.
Today, man and all of his works ore
almost completely dependent upon
electricity. Like a vast network of
arteries, elect ric-]mwer lines reach out
over mountains and plains, through
forests and across rivers, to carry life¬
blood to the farthest-dung parts of our
nation. Night is turned into day:
factories thrown from idleness into
roaring production; long trains hur¬
ried to distant points with precious
cargoes — all at the touch of a switch.
Paralleling this power network is a
great communications system of tele¬
graph and telephone lines and radio
transmitters. Like a great nerve-net¬
work this vast system of communica¬
tion.' can carry men's thought- to a
neighbor just around the nest corner
- or half way around the world with
the speed of light. In factoric-, home.-,
and public gathering places; on the
highways; on the seas; in the air— to
a nation ul peace or at war elec¬
tricity has become so important a fac¬
tor that our modern civilization would
conic to a standstill without it.
Only a moment of reflection is
needed to realize what a single,
shattering stroke of lightning can do
to the picture just drawn. A blind¬
ing flash! — a thundering crash !— and
a power-line is pouring its life-giving
current into the ground, or the tele¬
phone line i- severed, or the radio
transmitter silent. It is no wonder
that man recognizes lightning a- an
enemy.
A Lengthy Warfare
It was only about twcnty-Hvo years
ago that the first leal war on this
enemy was begun. Since then, in¬
vestigators all over the world have been
gradually accumulating data which
reveal the true characteristic* of
lightning. The prevalence of thunder¬
storms in various localities, the causes
of those storms, and the number of
strokes to
1и-
expected during the
average lightning season, have been
revealed. But perhaps more impor¬
tant, in the final analysis, arc the
present investigation* showing just
Imw thunder-clouds acquire their
electric charge, the manner in which
lightning strokes an- formed, and
the . characteristics of those strokes.
It is these investigations which are
milking it possible for engineers to
provide sure protection for buildings,
power-lines and communication* sys¬
tems against the ravages of lightning.
Much progress has already been made,
but much research must still he done
and many problems solved before the
victory is complete.
Today, the battle against this dread
enemy is reaching the stage of ap¬
plying the h— ons learned. Engineers,
in developing electrical apparatus
capable of withstanding the impact
of lightning strokes, and in develop¬
ing lightning-arresters capable of di¬
verting lightning surges harmlessly
into the ground, must have a limitless
supply of lightning strokes available
