The Cloud That Contained The Lightning

Using the character of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” as a jumping-off point, The Cloud That Contained the Lightning explores the kinds of ethical choices we face as individuals and as a society with respect to the innovations and inventions we pursue. How are our fears, obsessions, prejudices, and cultures manifested in the ways we apply new technologies, such as the splitting of the atom? What were the attitudes that resulted in such a destructive invention? What prompted it to be used on a nation suspected to already be defeated? By weaving together the voices of Oppenheimer, his wife and brother, hibakusha (Japanese for “explosion-affected people”), and the mythological figures of Cronos and his children, Lowen creates a dialogue out of a vacuum of communication and imagines the kind of exchanges that might have led to a different outcome than the tragedies at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And in an exploration of our tendency for selective amnesia, this collection asks a critical question: How quickly will the forgotten lessons of the past allow us to repeat the tragic chapters of our history?

Absorbing monograph by expert sets forth most of known properties of lightning: cloud and lightning charges, stepped leader, return stroke, dart leader, lightning on other planets, thunder, more. 144 illustrations.

The word lightning conjures up many different thoughts, depending on who you are. For instance, an engineer might wonder, "How can I protect this building?" A computer manager might ask, "What protection is available to save my equip ment?" A golf course manager wants to warn golfers about life-saving measures to take during a lightning storm. And on and on the needs go. In fact, the variety of backgrounds of people who need to understand lightning, its effects, and pro tection techniques ranges from the highly technical to the illiterate, creating a very difficult educational problem for the lightning protection industry. In this book, Marvin Frydenlund presents a refreshingly new melding of the many pieces of the lightningjigsaw puzzle that are scattered throughout numerous libraries, magazine and newspaper articles, codes, standards, statistics, research, and the enormous body of information called "old wives' tales, myths, opinions, and snake oil sales literature." He has created a broad-spectrum review of the en tire field oflightning that is easy to read and understand, and it will benefit anyone who wants to study and comprehend the subject.

Answers questions about Franklin's experiment, lightning rods, safety considerations, property damage, ball lightning, thunder, and thunderstorms

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.