Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-07-25

Lightning won't strike twice In the
same place? The hell it doesn't-on
June 81, 1910, lightning struck the 585
foot stack of the Washoe srnelter at
Anaconda, % times In half a second
speed that would make Drummer
Krupa envious.
What is lightning?
Briefly, it Is the discharge to earth
of an accumulation Of electricity IN
the clouds. The clouds become charged
by the action Of air currents until the
voltage finally builds up sufficiently
high to flash to earth OF to other
clouds. There must be millions of volts
in order for the lightning TO Jump the
long distance to the earth or some
object such as a building or tree
on the earth. The horizontal light
ming flashes you often see are dis
charges between clouds.
The current magnitude Of a light
ming stroke may vary from few hun
dred amperes to more than 200, 900
amperes. The duration Of the current
flow may be a few millionths Of a
second to half second
The large electric companies have
expended hundreds of thousands of
dollars in recent years on research to
learn more about lightning. Instru-
mentS have been devised to measure |
direct lightning strokes. Through CO.
operation with the Anaconda company, |
instruments were installed a couple |
years ago at the SOS foot Anaconda
stack and the 535 foot Great Falls |
stack to measure the lightning dis
charges through the lightning rods on
the stacks, which are connected to the
ground by heavy cables.
It was on the Anaconda stack that
the largest recorded stroke Of approx
mately 100000 amperes was measured
two years ago. The estimated momen-
tary power was estimated at three
billion watts, and that's powerful lot
Of power to guard against when I'M
oosed without warning by Mother
Nature.
What is cold lightning?
Did you ever touch a spark plug
With your engine running? If So you
moved so fast that the shock didn't
asst long. Well, cold lightning is some
hing like that only very much faster.
The fact that cold lightning lasts such
short time, it does not set fire to
material such as wood,
although it might splinter the top Of
pole or tree to resemble broom. )
The action is violent but Of extremely ,
hort duration.
What Is hot lightning?
Contrasted to touching the spark !
lug, hot lightning would be like hold /,
ng blow torch on an object. Ac-
ua1ly of course, it may only last q
alf second, but that is lot Of time
yhen you are talking about 10000 !
mperes. So, hot lightning will set
Jood and other inflammable material
fire; it win fuse sand into q Stag
lass; it will burn holes In metal. ]
Should you be afraid Of hghtning2
AS far as your own hide Is con-
erned, there is little need to be afraid,
ecause by the time you can be afraid
f a nearby flash, the danger is over.
.ecent tests have shown that you are
s safe in a modern steel top auto
lobile as anyplace, for the metal sur
ounding you would bypass the light
ing.
Regarding your property, you should r
" to safeguard it in a manner which II
as proven quite satisfactory by ac-
lmulated experience to date. One ii
rominent Montana mining engineer
without a mill today as a result OF III
lightning storm few weeks ago. II
Montana Kilowatt will try to give II
ou some information on lightning II
rejection In coming issues. We really II
ave severe lightning in these parts,
, do what you can to conquer ma