10. Plasma Lightning Diverters: Harnessing the Power of the Fourth State of Matter
Often described as the fourth state of matter, plasma is being used creatively to provide lightning protection. Ionised gas is used in plasma lightning diverters to form a conductive route capable of securely guiding lightning strikes away from protected regions. When these devices sense the high electric field preceding a lightning strike, they create a tiny plasma flame at their tip. This plasma generates a preferred path for the lightning, therefore acting as a dynamic, self-activating lightning rod. Plasma diverters have the benefit over conventional lightning rods in that they may cover a greater area with less installations. For towering constructions like wind turbines, where conventional lightning protection can be difficult, they are very successful. Certain sophisticated variants include several plasma generators that can cooperate to produce a protective dome covering a large area. These diverters are predicted to get increasingly more efficient and generally accepted as plasma physics develops.