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Date Posted: 11:02:37 1/17/23 Tue
Author: Jasper
Subject: Using lasers to redirect lightning. Stupid, war tech, messing with nature, good thing?

"It's Alive"


The idea of using lasers to guide lightning is an old one, with the suggestion first appearing in the scientific literature back in the 1970s. A sufficiently high-intensity laser beam has a complicated relationship with the air it travels through. The changes it makes to the air help focus the laser, while the electrons it knocks loose tend to disperse it. Meanwhile, the molecules in the atmosphere that absorb the light heat up and shoot out of its path, creating a low-pressure path in the laser's wake. Critically, many of the particles left behind in these low-pressure filaments are charged, providing a potential path for lightning.

It's also possible to shape laser pulses so that you control where the generation of these filaments start—up to a kilometer away from the laser source.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/lasers-used-to-guide-lightning-strikes-to-a-safe-target/



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