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Chapter 18: Q24CQ (page 662)

Discuss pros and cons of a lightning rod being grounded versus simply being attached to a building.

Short Answer

Expert verified

When the lightning rod is grounded, it gets discharged at a quicker rate as compared to the rod which is simply attached to the building. So, if the lightning strikes the building with a grounded lightning rod, the excess charge passes to the ground and the building will survive an immense strike.

Step by step solution

01

Lightning rod

A lightning rod is made of conducting metal and installed on the top of the building which protects the building from lightning damage by guiding the excess charge to the ground.

02

Grounded vs ungrounded lightning rod

When a lightning rod is connected to the ground, the excess charge on the rod quickly flows to the ground, and hence the rod discharges at a quicker rate when compared to the rod which is simply attached to the building.

In event, if that lightning strikes the building, an ungrounded rod would not be able to discharge quickly and hence the building might get damaged. Instead, if the rod is grounded, the charges flow to the ground quickly, preventing damage to the building.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

(a) By what factor must you change the distance between two-point charges to change the force between them by a factor of \(10\)? (b) Explain how the distance can either increase or decrease by this factor and still cause a factor of \(10\) change in the force.

Figure 18.43 shows the charge distribution in a water molecule, which is called a polar molecule because it has an inherent separation of charge. Given water’s polar character, explain what effect humidity has on removing excess charge from objects.

Figure 18.43 Schematic representation of the outer electron cloud of a neutral water molecule. The electrons spend more time near the oxygen than the hydrogens, giving a permanent charge separation as shown. Water is thus a polar molecule. It is more easily affected by electrostatic forces than molecules with uniform charge distributions.


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What can you say about two charges \({q_1}\) and \({q_2}\), if the electric field one-fourth of the way from \({q_1}\) to \({q_2}\) is zero?

Compare and contrast the Coulomb force field and the electric field. To do this, make a list of five properties for the Coulomb force field analogous to the five properties listed for electric field lines. Compare each item in your list of Coulomb force field properties with those of the electric field—are they the same or different? (For example, electric field lines cannot cross. Is the same true for Coulomb field lines?)
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