It is well known that unprotected trees in open fields are favorite targets of lightning bolts. Those are just samples of questions about lightning that have intrigued the curious.
Lightning is a very complex subject.
Since the early 1990s, Tung and Bing Kwan have been researching the dangers of lightning with grants from the Florida Department of Transportation and the federal government. Their most recent research project is centered on analyzing the effects of lightning on airport runway lights. Next to towers at airports, the lighting system that guides pilots to safe landings is a main attraction for lightning, according to the two researchers. To gather data for their study, Tung and Kwan are using the runway lights along the landing strips at Tallahassee airport as a laboratory for their assessments. Tung and Kwan were awarded the research dollars for the airport project after compiling research on two other lightning projects.