Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1910-08-10

"ouiu oe 70 enclose II In metal cage well
grounded, through which lightning.
which always stays on the surface, cannot
penetrate. Tho new concrete buildings
REINFORCED with net work OF steel rods
offers the very best protection against
lightning.
large number OF people run and put
down all the windows and close the doors
as soon as q thunderstorm approaches.
My lsndlady does this; she is more afraid
OF lightning than OF satan and all his
imps. "Why do you close the doors and
windowsY" / asked one day. ssLeave
them open and we can watch the storm.
There is nothing more beautiful than q
thunderstorm in all its magnitude and
grandeur. There is less danger in watch
ing real thunderstorm than in listening
to the sheet-iron thunder at the THEATRE
leave the windows open, indeedip she
answered Mortified. 'sDo you suppose
would have draught in this house during
a thunderstorm? We'd be certain to be
struck"
No argument that 1 could give con-
WINGED her differently, and I gave it up
In despair. Yet this,''no draughtn argu-
ment is one OF the most common super
stitions in the world. great many peo-
Pile actually believe that lightning can be
blown into house with a strong draught.
With the terrific speed of lightning-1ss,-
600 miles second - there is no danger of
Its being blown aside from its course,
only that the wind might and probably
does change the direction Of the air
currents, but not to such a degree as
greatly to affect the direction of the
discharge and carry it into a building.
There is absolutely no record that /
know OF where a discharge OF lightning
from the sky struck the side OF the house
and came into an open window or an open
door. Houses are struck, but they are
always struck on the roof first and al
ways on the very highest point OF the
roof at that, unless the current leaps off
telephone or electric light wire. This is
because, with the enormous voltage or
pressure OF lightning, dry wood is almost
as good conductor as copper wire is to a
weaker current, and lightning, travelling
always in the easiest paths, quickly leaves
the air, which is non-conductor. to run
down the wooden timbers OF building.
But even the electrical engineer must
admit that the lightning scared person
family featherbed whenever the lightning
flashes, shows good judgment. Dry
feathers are excellent insulating material,
and while they would not stop a bolt OF
lightning IL it actually hit the person, yet
they would prevent dangerous discharge
from passing through the body in case
another portion OF the house was struck.
Still other persons think they are safer
Ia a dark room. Perhaps they feel better
where they cannot see the flashes and
where the thunder cannot be heard so dis
tinctly, but they are not safer. Lightning
is not afraid OF the dark, and it will travel
through the darkest room just as well as
through the lghtest.
In spite OF the almost universal fear of
lightning, Characteristic OF birds, fishes
and animals as well as of human beings,
it is not half as dangerous as going out of
the house on an icy morning, walking
down the cellar stairs, or hundred other
things we do every day without thought
OF personal harm. More people are killed
each year by falling building material,
more die from fright, than are killed by
lightning.
The census bureau shows only one hum
bred sixty-nine people killed by lightning
~. 4. 1pr 81 } he
and only thirty of these people were killed
in the cities. Heat and sun killed 1853 dur
ing the same year, 2o3 died from cold and
freezing and 4, 1896 were drowned.
Just as the moisture in the air con-
denses into raindrops and showers the
earth, even so the particles of electricity
condense and unite until the air, or, bet
ter speaking, the water in the air, be-
comes overcharged, and We have a shower
of electricity. The particles OF moisture
accommodating in the upper air are free to
drop to earth as soon as they condense
and unite until they are too heavy to
float. The particles OF electricity gath
cred in the upper air, which is moist
enough to be good conductor, are effec-
lively insulated from the ground by
layers OF more or less dry air, which is
the best non conductor OF electricity in
the world.
This electricity is 'sdamned back un-
til it reaches a pressure sufficient to
break down this resistance and dash to
earth single gigantic spark or fash. 1t
is the gaseous PARTICLES composing the
atmosphere, heated to incandescence by
the electrical energy breaking down this
resistance, which We see, and not the
electricity itself. Electricity cannot be
seen.
Lightning, travelling from one cloud
to another or from a cloud to the earth,
has no special direction any more than
that it takes the easiest path. As the
atmosphere, especially in storm, is full
of whirls, eddies and waves like water,
but unlike water being OF different de-
gress Of dryness and conductivity, the