A lightning rod is a metallic rod attached to a building and designed to shield the building from a direct lightning strike. Lightning rods come in many shapes and sizes, depending on what it is to be used for. The rod's size and length will also determine its price. These protective rods are usually galvanized and plated to prevent corrosion. They are often made of steel to reduce friction while transmitting electricity.


Lightning rods have long been a part of many structures, such as houses, barns, office buildings, hospitals, and schools. This electrical device serves as a secondary electrical protection around the structure. Secondary protection, as it is called, prevents electrical shock if there is a direct hit, usually by lightning, on the electrical structure. It also acts as a secondary ground conductor to make sure that no one is sitting too close to the building when the electrical flow is active.

Lightning rods are commonly used to protect structures from being destroyed by severe thunder storms, especially when the area is prone to earth tremors. Earth quakes can cause major damage to buildings in the surrounding area. With lightning rods protecting the structure, those who are in the area will not be struck dead by flying objects or lightning. Without the earth trembling, the earthquake wouldn't happen, but it would have been much worse.

Get to know more about a lightning rod

There are several things to know about a lightning rod. The metal used in its construction is very resistant to corrosion, which makes it last a long time. Additionally, it conducts electricity, so all that will happen when lightning strikes the area is that the electricity will be transmitted to the lightning rod and to the lightning protection system installed on the building.

Lightning rods are also widely used by the United States military. Many military bases have them, including at Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Jackson, Mississippi; Folsom, Wyoming; and Joint Base Lack land-Pacific in California. The US military bases are very important to our country for many reasons, one being that they protect our country from attack from terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda. Since terrorists are very likely to attack any large population of people in a large city like Los Angeles, with a lot of electronic communication devices in place, it is important for the military to have some way to communicate with their bases in case of an emergency.

Lightning rods are not made from the same materials as the electrical panels that are used on homes. Lightning rods are usually made from copper, a highly conductive metal that is used in other places around the world for just this reason. Because of the resistance to electricity in copper, a lightning rod that is designed for a home is not going to do much harm to the electrical wiring in a house.

Another component that makes a lightning rod an excellent item is that it is very strong and durable, because it is intended to withstand many years of high intensity electricity. It would be extremely dangerous to use a standard electrical panel to "paralyze" the lightning rod, because it would not last very long and could easily be broken. A heavy metal key can be used to build up the pressure inside the metal key's case to make the rod strong enough to withstand many years of constant electricity.

Lightning rods are excellent pieces of safety equipment, but they should never be used as a replacement for lightning bolt protection. The lightning rod is only one aspect of a protection system that should be used along with street lighting. Lightning rods are good for providing the illusion of being protected from lightning strikes, but street lighting is much more effective at deterring lightning bolt attacks. Lightning rods can also be replaced with photo-luminescent warning signs, which are similar to light bulbs, and which will automatically light up when exposed to electricity.