***Dave Does the Blog :: What's more cool than summoning a lightning bolt? (Print)

Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 2:49 PM

What's more cool than summoning a lightning bolt?

Summoning a lightning bolt with a freaking laser!

The researchers used their laser pulses to rip away negatively charged electrons attached to molecules in the air around thunderstorms. These freed electrons behaved like conducting wires. The team reports in Optics Express that while full bolts of cloud-to-ground lightning were not formed, the lasers did create increased electrical activity in which charged particles followed the laser-generated path for a short distance. The result looked like corona discharges, known to mariners as St Elmo's fire—ominous flickering lights sometimes seen above the masts of a ship about to be hit by lightning.

Dr Kasparian thinks that more powerful lasers will be able to draw lightning to the ground.

I think that's how Vaal did it ...

(via GeekPress)

Filed under :: Science

Thursday, 1 May 2008, 9:22 PM

Quoth Randal Trimmer ...

But wouldn't that *aim a lightning bolt at the laser emitter*?

Maybe you could bounce the laser off a mirror. Cheaper that way.

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