LIGHTNING AND TREES

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1925, 23 October 1926, Page 3

LIGHTNING AND TREES

EXCELLENT ICONDUOTORS.

The writer ctf an article in -the Dearborn 'lndependent (stated to liave been compiled >froim data furnished by t)Ws United .State's Forest Service) asserts that tire e s are ,thle objects most oilmen struck iby lightning, for thta following reasons: They are very numerous. As a part of the ground they extend upward and shorten thje distance to a cloud. Their Spreading faranchcteis in the air and spreading rootis in (the ground present an excellent form of conducting electrical discharges to the Garth. We read further: The likelihood of a tree's being Struck iby lightning is increased if it is taller than surrounding triees; isolated upon high grdu,nd; deeply rooted; and if it is the best conductor at tlble moment ot the flash; that is, if temporary Conditions isuch as l being wet by rain transforms it fo!r the moment from a poor conductor t oa good; one. A hle&vy, driving rain, such an accompanies, th* average thunderstorm, can so wet any tree thajt it will for the time being become an lexcellenlt conductor. Up to that time the trtee may have been in itself a poor conductor. Thus, although the moisture content of wood, particularly witMn (the ouft)eirmo*t layer df growth in a living (tree, adds to the variability af induction, even thla most resinous of trees with the lowest moisture con-tjenjt can under a heavy rain become a splendid conductor alt a momenlt's time. Because of this, and the fact that the form of thte most efficient lightning rod, .with its a(t botjh ends, resembles that of a tree, it is evident that any kind of a tree is likely to fate struck by Ifighttnimg.