Mountain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning#Harvesting_lightning_energy Harvesting lightning energy Since the late 1980s there have been several attempts to investigate the possibility of harvesting energy from lightning. While a single bolt of lightning carries a relatively large amount of energy, this energy is concentrated in a small location and is passed during an extremely short period of time (milliseconds); therefore, extremely high electrical power is involved.[122] It has been proposed that the energy contained in lightning be used to generate hydrogen from water, or to harness the energy from rapid heating of water due to lightning.[123] A technology capable of harvesting lightning energy would need to be able to capture rapidly the high power involved in a lightning bolt. Several schemes have been proposed, but the low energy involved in each lightning bolt render lightning power harvesting from ground based lightning rods as impractical.[124] According to Northeastern University physicists Stephen Reucroft and John Swain, a lightning bolt carries a few million joules of energy, enough to power a 100-watt bulb for 5.5 hours. Additionally, lightning is sporadic, and therefore energy would have to be collected and stored; it is difficult to convert high-voltage electrical power to the lower-voltage power that can be stored.[123] In the summer of 2007, an alternative energy company called Alternate Energy Holdings (AEH) tested a method for capturing the energy in lightning bolts. The design for the system had been purchased from an Illinois inventor named Steve LeRoy, who had reportedly been able to power a 60-watt light bulb for 20 minutes using the energy captured from a small flash of artificial lightning. The method involved a tower, a means of shunting off a large portion of the incoming energy, and a capacitor to store the rest. According to Donald Gillispie, CEO of AEH, they "couldn't make it work," although "given enough time and money, you could probably scale this thing up... it's not black magic; it's truly math and science, and it could happen."[125]

I agree on the question of the cost. Off course if it is not competitive, there is no point to invest into it. But we have to bear in mind that we still talk about theories, without practical proof. As far as I know, no research has been done on this field for this purpose. With my best regards.

Dear insane_alien, This was a great input from you. But things may not be as simple as that. For the start, capacitors used for this purpose have to pass the test, specially made and thousands of times bigger than the capacitors, which we have seen in the market. In nuclear reaserch, certain type of capacitors used to create very high temperature heat. These capacitors are charged with billion KW power and let discharged in a fraction of a second to create very high temperature, thousands of degrees high. So already technology exists to build capacitors for this purpose, obviously needs capacitors of this type. To get the lightening, you don't have to wait for random chances. For example you can force lightning to occur and to direct it to storages. All clouds are always charged, all you have to do is to go there to collect it. One way could be done is by sending rockets with conductors into the cloud to cause discharge and force it down through the conductors into storages on the ground. You can create mobile storage units to follow clouds to milk them. This is just a simple example. With my best regards to you.

This lightning strike from this source bellow lasted for half an hour: http://www.aliraqi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=99238 Anyway, we both talk about theories, which have not yet put under test practically and I am not going to give up mine until practically proved or disproved.

What about the lightnings, which we can see and lasts for 10 or more seconds some times.

I am just correcting this post, which I thought I ignored it, didn't post. I want to reword this post like this: Yes, it lasts 30 millionth of a second but still has a power of 1 billion KW = 1 billion KJ, which can run (1 billion KJ)/(1 KW heater) = 1 billion 1 KW heaters for one second or 1 KW heater for 1 billion seconds = 278,000 hours = 11,574 days = 32 years. Assuming 30 millionths of a second has a bearing, still this power can run a 1 KW heater for 8 hours, which is not bad.

Yes, it lasts 30 millionth of a second but still has a power of 1 billion KW = 1 billion KJ, which can run (1 billion KJ)/(60 Wat light bulbs)=17 million 60 wat light bulbs. In other words this 1 bill. KW can run 17 million 60w light bulbs for ONE SECOND.

Dear insane_alien, The above quote is from this source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning#Properties So one trillion Wat = one billion KW = (one billion KW)/(3600 Seconds=1 hour)= 277,778= 280,000KWH I am self-taught person. I could be wrong.

All these draw backs can be overcome with overload protectors and insulators to prevent arcs.capacitors made for this purpose need to be made according to a model passes reseach and development for this purpose. Obviously a series of large capacitors needed to capture the energy of a lightning strike as much as possible one after another. According to the Ssource bellow one lightning strike has 1 billion KW power, which is almost 280,000 KW/hour. This has a monetary value of £28,000.00 at 10p/KWH. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning#Properties

Leyden jar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyden_jar Mountain: The 64 year old self-taught student

Harnessing atmospheric electric discharge, lightning. Theoretically lightning can be harnessed by storing it in capacitors, which take electrical charges very quickly. Fit one pole of a capacitor to the ground and the other to an areal, high enough to attract lightning. So when a lightning strikes the areal, it should charge the capacitor. After that, disconnect the capacitor from the areal and the ground and use the electrical charge for anything useful. Practically, may capacitors have to be used to harness the lightning energy as much as possible when it takes place. Each capacitor have to be very large with overload protection and polarity charge detectors. The system has to include an automatic mechanism to divert charging path from a capacitor after fully charged to the next discharged capacitor. This idea came to me after seeing pictures of Khalifa Tower hit by lightning, same pictures can be seen here:http://www.aliraqi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=99238 . I have also mentioned this idea on the amendments I made on my patent pending idea: Linear Electric Generator Force Multiplier: http://force-multiplier-machine.2move.me.uk/ This theory is based on my present knowledge about electricity and lightning and lightning could have some secrets, which I don't know and could invalidate this theory.