Scientists use laser beam to divert lightning strikes

Sometimes a scientific accomplishment needs no hype to sound cool. Laser-guided lightning is one of these cases. Since the time of Benjamin Franklin, we’ve looked for ways to control, or at least deflect, lightning strikes. In 1999, scientists first tried to control the path of a lightning bolt with a laser. Now, scientists are reporting the first successful demonstration of laser-guided lightnin

Sometimes a scientific accomplishment needs no hype to sound cool. Laser-guided lightning is one of these cases. Since the time of Benjamin Franklin, we’ve looked for ways to control, or at least deflect, lightning strikes. In 1999, scientists first tried to control the path of a lightning bolt with a laser. Now, scientists are reporting the first successful demonstration of laser-guided lightning. Pictures of one of the experiments speak for themselves: Credit: A. Houard et al., Nature Photonics, 2023 Why does it work? The power of a very large laser breaks down the atmosphere itself,…

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