Lightning conductor
A metal rod gives charges an easy path to the ground.
Protect a building
Lightning can damage buildings. People put a long metal rod on tall buildings.
What is the rod for?
What this lesson covers
The idea
A lightning conductor is a pointed metal rod fixed above the highest point of a building and buried deep in the ground, giving electric charges an easy path into the ground.
Protect a building
Lightning can damage buildings. People put a long metal rod on tall buildings.
What is the rod for?
- To give electric charges an easy path into the ground
- To make the building taller
- To attract the rain
Fit the conductor
Press Next step to put the rod in place.
A safe path
The metal rod is fixed along the wall. Its pointed end stays above the highest point of the building. Its other end is buried deep in the ground. It gives an easy path for charges to pass into the ground.
A lightning conductor is a metal rod with a pointed end above the highest point of the building and the other end buried deep in the ground. It gives charges an easy path to the ground.
Notes
A lightning conductor gives charges an easy path to the ground.
Check yourself
A lightning conductor is a …
The pointed end of the rod is kept …
The other end of the rod is …
The rod protects the building because it gives electric charges …
- metallic rod — correct. Yes!
- wooden pole. The conductor is a metallic rod.
- glass pipe. The conductor is made of metal.
- below the roof. The pointed end is kept higher than the highest point.
- higher than the highest point of the building — correct. Yes!
- inside the room. It is kept above the building.
- tied to a cloud. The other end goes deep into the ground.
- left hanging in the air. It is buried deep in the ground.
- buried deep in the ground — correct. Yes!
- an easy path into the ground — correct. Yes!
- a path into the room. It sends charges into the ground, not into the building.
- a reason to stay in the air. The easy path leads into the ground.