Laser Triggers Electrical Activity In Thunderstorm

esocid writes "A team of European scientists has deliberately triggered electrical activity in thunderclouds for the first time by aiming high-power pulses of laser light into a thunderstorm. At the top of South Baldy Peak in New Mexico during two passing thunderstorms, the researchers used laser pulses to create plasma filaments that could conduct electricity. No air-to-ground lightning was triggered because the filaments were too short-lived, but the laser pulses generated discharges in the thunderclouds themselves up to several meters long. Triggering lightning strikes is an important tool for basic and applied research because it enables researchers to study the mechanisms underlying lightning strikes. Moreover, triggered lightning strikes will allow engineers to evaluate and test the lightning-sensitivity of airplanes and critical infrastructure such as power lines. Research into laser-triggered lightning has been going on for some years. Until now, no experiment was able to produce a long enough plasma channel to affect the electrical activity inside clouds."

I don't think that word means what you think it. .

[JSBiff]

. . .means. "Reverse Engineering", I think is not the right term here. I think "applications" might be a better term, possibly. That is, you can possibly apply the scientific principle that has been discovered in this experiment to technologies such as you describe - e.g. using it to shield cities/property from damage.

Re:Lightning rocketry

[dustbin]

Wire not needed with a big enough rocket. See Atlas-Centaur 67 incident report. : (

Re:Electricity source?

[NeverVotedBush]

Not exactly. What the "super" in supercapacitors means is that they have extremely high capacitance and can store a large amount of charge.

The rub is that they cannot handle much in the way of voltage. Typically in the 2 to 4 volts range depending on the type. So if you want to store a lot of voltage, you need to put them in series and that lowers the capacitance back down.

Supercaps are not suitable for high voltage. The reason you don't see them powering electric cars instead of batteries is the voltage issue. Manufacturers and researchers are working on that but for now, the voltage a supercap can stand is very low.