Talk:3231: Lightning

I don't know if this is important, but at least right now there is no period. Might change later. Majordesmosnerd (talk) 20:52, 10 April 2026 (UTC)

im not sure how to insert it into the current state of the explanation, but by being a lightning rod nearby but higher up, he is providing protection to ponytail, right? - Vaedez (talk) 21:04, 10 April 2026 (UTC)

That does seem to be the premise, but I doubt that a few inches are sufficient for this, especially if they're several feet apart. But I had the same idea and already put it into the explanation. Barmar (talk) 21:11, 10 April 2026 (UTC)

Ironically, wearing a (properly grounded) anti-static strap would actually _increase_ the odds of being struck by lightning, turning you into a human lightning rod. The whole point of an anti-static strap is to dissipate any intrinsic potential difference between you and the ground, thus making you a (marginally) shorter path for the extreme potential difference between the clouds and the ground state. 50.47.191.231 21:10, 10 April 2026 (UTC) - and of course someone said that in the explanation in the time it took me to write the comment.  :-p. 50.47.191.231 21:12, 10 April 2026 (UTC)

Fortunately, Randall also presents an alternative solution. 216.7.114.74 23:13, 10 April 2026 (UTC)

Timing kinda sucks for this one: Colorado officials trying to identify woman struck by lightning. RandalSchwartz (talk) 22:54, 10 April 2026 (UTC)

Compare xkcd 795. X (talk) 00:59, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

THE EXPLANATION GIVEN ABOVE is WRONG-ish. ", Cueball has once again confused how anti-static devices work ". Actually, earthing does protect against lighting strikes -- the ground potential shapes around above the ground point. Cueball is less likely to be hit by lighting while wearing a correctly earthed grounding strap. Imagine that instead of "Cueball", what you see is the surface of the mountain curving up and around over Cueball. And yes, he is also more likely to be hit while he is the tallest point, lightning rods do get hit. Also, to work correctly, a lighting rod should have a pointed tip -- this makes it less likely to be hit because it works better at lifting the "surrounding ground" up to the point of the lighting rod. If it works perfectly, Cueball won't be the "high point" -- the surrounding air will be at the same potential has him.

> ""possibility, however, that the wire goes down the torso (ideally in an insulated manner, ...."" -- The lightning bolt has just jumped hundreds of feet through air from(/to) the sky. No wire insulation flexible enough to walk with will stop a lightning bolt that strong. --PRR (talk) 06:18, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

It has long been a matter of contention whether a pointy tip (or even multiple spikes, branching out like crown of thorns), or (say) a ball-top, is the 'best' shape for the tip of a lightning conductor. It's very hard to practically test and compare different designs. But the balance of evidence seems to point (no pun intended!) towards a 'blunt-tipped-pencil'-like single extension (like a sharp end, but rounded off) for every 'summit' (though you can and should place multiple 'single spikes' for area-protection), in part because it never gets so thin as to have the flowing charge all trying to squeeze through it (at the moment where the atmosphere just is no longer enough of an insulator across the air-gap and the ionising 'feeler' can establish itself) which won't exactly help things if and when the lightning does strike.

There's also a lot of other contentious/commonly-misunderstood details about how lightning-protection works,to which I originally elaborated. But it looked a bit too much TL;DR; even to me, so I just now cut it back, fortunately for y'all. ;) But the best way to prevent conductive damage between conductor and the structure (or person?) it's mounted upon is to have it standing off whatever it's attached to, secured periodically (enough to not flap about) but maintain an air-gap.

Or, for things that really don't need (and maybe can't have) a conductor running down them, like rockets on pads, set up several free-standing 'lightning masts' surrounding the core structure, with a greater height sufficient to intercept chance lightning events that might have sought the structure of interest without these stand-offish towers being more ready to form the base of any initial upstroke. (Perhaps mount ionising lasers on them, to also make that 'bit of air' slightly more likely to be used, if you can't fly kites from them. Or even fire spool-tethered sounding rockets up when critical conditions are detected. Neither of which sound like good solutions when adjacent to a rocket-pad, of course. :p ). 82.132.239.232 13:23, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

This might be a stretch but the art reminds me a lot of the art for the Magic card Lightning Bolt, might be an intentional reference. [1] -magic nerd 38.85.177.78 10:47, 11 April 2026 (UTC)

Does anyone know what the other comic is where Randall shows lightning? It's one where Cueball keeps walking in a storm, because he thinks the amount of people that die each year from lightning strikes is so small he can't possibly get struck-Despite him being all reckless in a storm by keeping going, thus making him a big target. Anyone know which one it is? GSLikesCats307 (talk) 15:29, 11 April 2026