this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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112
Swiss scientists successfully diverted lightning with a laser (www.nature.com)
submitted 1 year ago by nakamotto to c/technology
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[–] trachemys 12 points 1 year ago

I would have thought shooting the laser would just cause lightning to strike the laser emitter itself. But they can tweak the laser to make the air ionization start some distance from the emitter. So, they can make the lighting strike something else. There is a neat picture in the article showing lighting going along, then following the laser beam down for a bit, then leaving the laser beam and going to a tower. People first tried this in 1999.