🚀 go-pugleaf

Hmmmm...  Perhaps it would be better to say...

"Lightning rods MAY attract lightning."  I do agree with what is being
discussed.  I am thinking about the cases when the potential difference is
so great that the rod cannot provide the neutralizing charges fast enough.

Also related, re: approaching the electrostatic generator with a needle...
and also the mention of hot/cold? ligtning...

It has happened several times that myself and my mountain climbing partner
foolishly found ourselves on top of a ridge in the late afternoon with
thundershowers (too much late night partying and a not-so-early start in
the morning).  Both times involved a crackling sound of static discharge
and faint purple corona, visible in daylight, at the end of our ice-axes
that were wedged into the side of our rucksacks.  I could feel the hair on
my head tingle (probably from standing up straight from fright!) and there
was that distinct smell of burnt hair from my beard.

On the first occasion the sensations passed quickly, except for the fear.

On the second occasion, it started out the same with the corona on our ice
axes (Iike a lightning rod?) but then my buddy was zapped, blowing off the
bottom of his right boot.  The charge path was along the head of the ice
axe, through the metal shaft (inside a wooden handle) then through his
right thigh, to the calf and foot.  I don't know which way the charge
flowed, but his leg was paralized for about 45 minutes.

So, do lightning rods attract lightning...?

- Denis