Lightning rods will not prevent your building from being struck. They actually INCREASE it by making your house TALLER. The purpose of the lightning rod is to direct the current from the lightning to the ground along a preferred path instead of to the house. However, this works only if the rod is connected to the ground with heavy gauge wire.
It's a bit more complex than that. From my quick browse on the Internet, it seems there's a slight increase in odds caused by the increase in height. But if the rod can actively and effectively dissipate the electric field then that should mitigate the increase in odds (and then some) caused by the added height. Finally, if well constructed, a lightning rod will reduce the amount of damage caused.
Care to share links? If not then I still consider the national weather service to be more definitive. Particularly since what it says agrees perfectly with the physics courses that I took 20+ years ago, which indicated that the taller and pointier a metal object is, the better a target it becomes for static electricity discharges of all kinds - including lightning.
They actually INCREASE it by making your house TALLER.
the taller and pointier a metal object is, the better a target it becomes for static electricity discharges of all kinds...
I'm not disputing any of the above. But how much more likely or "better a target" does the rod make it? I couldn't find any quantitative measure of the increase in odds. Do you have any? If the odds of a strike are increased by just 1%, that statement by the NWS is still correct. Would you discount the use of a lightning rod because it ever so slightly increases the odds of a strike, when you know it also offers the additional benefits of dissipation and a safe path to ground?
I do not discount the value of lightning rods. Exactly because having a safe path to the ground is a real benefit.
But I am discounting the reality of "dissipation" as an advantage. In fact the opposite should be true. To the extent that you create a cloud of negative charge, you should attract lightning, not avoid it.
Lightning rods will not prevent your building from being struck. They actually INCREASE it by making your house TALLER. The purpose of the lightning rod is to direct the current from the lightning to the ground along a preferred path instead of to the house. However, this works only if the rod is connected to the ground with heavy gauge wire.
It's a bit more complex than that. From my quick browse on the Internet, it seems there's a slight increase in odds caused by the increase in height. But if the rod can actively and effectively dissipate the electric field then that should mitigate the increase in odds (and then some) caused by the added height. Finally, if well constructed, a lightning rod will reduce the amount of damage caused.