Researchers quantify the changes that lightning inspires in rock

[rangerrebew]

Researchers quantify the changes that lightning inspires in rock
April 26, 2017 by Katherine Unger Baillie
 

Benjamin Franklin, founder of the University of Pennsylvania, is believed to have experimented with lightning's powerful properties using a kite and key, likely coming close to electrocuting himself in the process.

In a new set of experiments at Penn, researchers have probed the power of lightning in a less risky but much more technologically advanced fashion.

Chiara Elmi, a postdoctoral researcher in Penn's Department of Earth and Environmental Science in the School of Arts & Sciences, led the work, which used a suite of techniques to examine a fulgurite, a thin layer of glass that forms on the surface of rock when lightning hits it. Among other findings, the study discovered that, based on the crystalline material in the sample, the minimum temperature at which the fulgurite formed was roughly 1,700 degrees Celsius.


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-04-quantify-lightning.html#jCp

[Suppressed]

I've collected fulgerites from sand. Pretty cool.

[geronl]

All I took from this is rocks can be inspired...

[thackney]

I've collected fulgerites from sand. Pretty cool.

When I was a "grunt" on a lineman crew, I worked one major thunderstorm, 21 continuous hours.

We found a chunk of dirt, solidified into near rock from contact with a downed, energized power line.  Similar perhaps to a lightning strike.

They were very concerned for my safety (and their arse-chewing from me getting hurt).  Too much frantic activity in bad conditions.

The dirt was about an 8" sphere(ish) with a near 1" hole through the middle.  I had to carry it with me every time I went back to the truck for a tool, equipment, etc.  They told me to keep looking at it an imagine it was my leg.