Could Lasers Actually Be Used to Redirect Lightning?

Here’s how the groundbreaking technique works and its future applications.

Transcript

00:00Lightning rods at the top of buildings will often redirect bolts of lightning for safety.

00:08But now experts say they've been able to redirect lightning with lasers for science.

00:12The problem with lightning rods is that they have to be quite tall to be effective over a wide area,

00:16with experts saying they need to be thousands of feet tall to really be effective.

00:20Something of that size is really impractical, since it would be standing there all the time,

00:24despite lightning storms not happening that often.

00:26Which is why scientists in Switzerland are attempting a new technique,

00:30firing pulses of high-energy lasers into potential lightning storms.

00:33Researchers hit storm clouds with a thousand bursts of infrared light every second for six hours.

00:38Those high-energy beams were meant to tear electrons from air particles,

00:41which in turn create a low-density pathway.

00:44And as we know, electricity travels the path of least resistance.

00:47This is the photo one of their high-speed cameras caught,

00:50showing a lightning striking seemingly far away,

00:52but suddenly arcing towards the laser light near the tower,

00:55which the researchers say traveled along the low-density pathway of the laser

00:59for more than 160 feet before striking the tower.

01:02With the researchers adding that while this is an incredible achievement for lightning safety,

01:06possibly leading to averting natural disasters like bushfires,

01:09it could potentially also someday be used to harness lightning for energy.

01:14Let's go!

01:18A��hopper Osloon