In the present computer age problems with lightning continue. As the global village implements greater and greater automation, distributed computation is found everywhere - factories, homes, educational facilities and of course office buildings. This is a particular problem in the industrial environment, right on the production line. They can also affect the data communications between sensors and PLC's, between PLC's and a host computer and between a myriad of tools and the PC's which control them. When lightning strikes and a power surge is coupled into computer equipment any one of several different events may happen.
Semiconductors are prevalent in such equipment.
A lightning surge may surpass the voltage rating of these devices causing them to fail. They may alter their electrical characteristics so that they no longer function effectively. The lightning surge may cause defects on the printed circuit board tracings. It may activate relays in an aberrant manner. The lightning induced surge may even alter programs stored in ROMs associated with PLC's.