CHAPTER 1
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1.1 PRIMITIVE BELIEFS
An electric storm is one of nature’s most spectacular phenomena, and its
Display of lightning and thunder has fascinated and frightened man
Throughout time. In ancient times it was believed that the great gods
Were responsible for hurling thunderbolts that could kill, upturn
Boulders, split trees or kindle fires. Man’s early steps towards
Civilization began when he learned how to control fires started by
Lightning and use it against predatory animals. Tales from American
Indians explain how the world was a cold place before the first fire was
Started by the thunderbird god. As recently as the 1870’s German
Soldiers were convinced that magic power from the donnerkeil, or
Lightning stone, would protect them from French bullets. Lightning
Stones, believed to be spearheads of lightning bolts, could be found
Buried where lightning had struck. The lightning stones and their
Fragments were sold throughout Europe for many hundreds of years and
Were thought to protect from illness and evil. We know now that most of
The stones and fragments found were old relics and artifacts from the
Stone Age (Lundquist 1969).
Today we smile at old superstitions, yet we too bend to the mystery of
2 ATMOSPHERIC ELECTROSTATICS
Lightning and its atmospheric implications, for modern man has yet to
Understand it.
1.2 EARLY ELECTROSTATICS
The first person on record to have suggested a relationship between
Electricity and lightning was an Englishman named D. William Wall
(1708). He noted a similarity between lightning and the crackling
Sparks produced by the rubbing of amber. S. Gray (1735) and A. G
Rosenberg (1745) both mention the similarity between lightning
Phenomena and electric fire produced by electricity machines in the
Laboratory; and
in a book published in Leipzig 1746, J. H Winkler
Describes several resemblances between lightning and electricity.
During this time improved electricity machines and Leyden jars became
Readily available and a new era of electrical science was born. Many
More scientists, among them Benjamin Franklin, also questioned the
Nature of lightning, recognizing its similarity to the snapping sparks
Produced in the laboratory. “How loud must be the crack of 10,000 acres
Of electrified cloud!” exclaimed Franklin. In a letter to Dr. John Mitchel
Of the Royal Society in England, he enclosed a treatise, “The Sameness
Of Lightning and Electricity”. According to Mitchel, the paper was read
By the Society amidst laughter from its professed experts on electricity.
Another paper dated July 1750, was sent to the Royal Society through a
Friend, a Mr. Collinson. In this paper Franklin described how electric
“fluid” is attracted to pointed conductors. “Might not the same
Principles be of use to man in teaching him to protect houses, churches,
Ships and other structures from damage occasioned by lightning?” he
Asked. Thus the idea of the lightning rod was born.
As yet no experimental tests had been performed to prove that
Lightning was an electrical phenomenon. Franklin therefore proposed an
Experiment to answer the question once and for all. On a high tower or
Steeple a sentry-box was to be erected large enough to contain a man
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 3
And an electrically-insulating platform. A long pointed rod or antenna
Would be attached to the sentry-box by means of insulators and would be
Connected to the insulated platform inside (Fig. 1). A man standing on
The insulated platform would thus become charged from the rod when a
(No Ratings Yet)