Positive Lightning

Lightning: Physics and Effects is the first book that covers essentially all aspects of lightning, including lightning physics, lightning protection and the interaction of lightning with a variety of objects and systems as well as with the environment. It is written in a style that will be accessible to the technical non-expert and is addressed to anyone interested in lightning and its effects. This will include physicists, engineers working in the power, communications, computer and aviation industries, meteorologists, atmospheric chemists, foresters, ecologists, physicians working in the area of electrical trauma and architects. This comprehensive reference volume contains over 300 illustrations, 70 tables containing quantitative information and a bibliography of more than 6000 references.

This book highlights the basic information about lightning. It is an unpredictable disaster, and it is an extremely complex electrical discharge phenomenon. A complete theory of lightning does not exist till now. This book elaborates on the basic formation of lightning, terminologies related to lightning, and the preliminary lightning theory. There are different types of lightning, such as cloud flashes, ground flashes (both positive and negative), and air discharges. This book explains some unusual events related to lightning and inspects innovation. This book also describes the measurement of electric and magnetic fields generated by lightning, which are the basic parameters for lightning fundamentals.

Presents current research into electromagnetic computationtheories with particular emphasis on Finite-Difference Time-DomainMethod This book is the first to consolidate current research and toexamine the theories of electromagnetic computation methods inrelation to lightning surge protection. The authors introduceand compare existing electromagnetic computation methods such asthe method of moments (MOM), the partial element equivalent circuit(PEEC), the finite element method (FEM), the transmission-linemodeling (TLM) method, and the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)method. The application of FDTD method to lightningprotection studies is a topic that has matured through manypractical applications in the past decade, and the authors explainthe derivation of Maxwell’s equations required by the FDTD,and modeling of various electrical components needed in computinglightning electromagnetic fields and surges with the FDTDmethod. The book describes the application of FDTDmethod to current and emerging problems of lightning surgeprotection of continuously more complex installations, particularlyin critical infrastructures of energy and information, such asoverhead power lines, air-insulated sub-stations, wind turbinegenerator towers and telecommunication towers. Both authors are internationally recognized experts in the areaof lightning study and this is the first book to present currentresearch in lightning surge protection Examines in detail why lightning surges occur and what can bedone to protect against them Includes theories of electromagnetic computation methods andmany examples of their application Accompanied by a sample printed program based on thefinite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method written in C++program

The participation of such diverse scientific and technical disciplines as meteorology, astronomy, atmospheric electricity, ionospheric and magnetospheric physics, electromagnetic wave propagation, and radio techniques in the research of atmospherics means that results are published in scientific papers widely spread throughout the literature. This Handbook collects the latest knowledge on atmospherics and presents it in two volumes. Each chapter is written by an expert in his or her field. Topics include the physics of thunderclouds, thunder, global atmospheric electric currents, biological aspects of sferics, and various space techniques for detecting lightning within our own atmosphere as well as in the atmospheres of other planets. Up-to-date applications and methodology are detailed. Volumes I and II offer a comprehensive discussion that together will serve as an important resource for practitioners, professionals, and students alike.

Electrical phenomena have been studied since antiquity, though progress in theoretical understanding remained slow until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Even then, practical applications for electricity were few, and it would not be until the late nineteenth century that electrical engineers were able to put it to industrial and residential use. The rapid expansion in electrical technology at this time transformed industry and society, becoming a driving force for the Second Industrial Revolution. Electricity's extraordinary versatility means it can be put to an almost limitless set of applications which include transport, heating, lighting, communications, and computation. Electrical power is now the backbone of modern industrial society. When you have completed this book, you should be able to describe the principles of electron flow, static electricity, conductors, and insulators and discuss basic electrical concepts and principles of magnetism.

An accessible account of how forest fires work, the ecological effects they have, and why and how we fight fires.