This is the first ever real-world demonstration of the effect
The experiment, which took place atop Säntis mountain on the northern edge of the Swiss Alps, is the first real-world demonstration that intense bursts of light can be used to fish for lightning from storms, and redirect it to a safe location.
Lightning emerges when atmospheric static electricity, generated by the friction of ice clumps and rain in stormclouds, separates electrons from atoms. The negatively charged electrons then pool at the stormcloud's base and attract positive charges from the ground. As electrons steadily accumulate, they begin to overcome the resistance of the air to their flow, ionizing the atmosphere below them as they approach the ground in multiple forking "leader" paths.
Lightning rods shield buildings by providing leader paths with a quick and safe route to discharge electrons into the ground, but the area they protect is limited by the rod's height. To get around this limitation, the scientists beamed their powerful laser bursts at the air near the rod, tearing electrons from air molecules and sweeping those molecules away to create an electron trail between a nearby stormcloud and the rod for the lightning to travel along.
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