rrw@naucse.UUCP (Robert Wier) (05/06/89)
All of this talk about crystal sets and razor blades reminded me of an incident about 20 years ago, when I was living in Boulder, Colorado. I had just moved into a new apartment, and was using a razor blade (single edge "blue blade" to scrape some masking tape off a large window). I was standing on a chair, and was thus somewhat insulated from the floor. Now, Boulder normally has a thunderstorm in the afternoon on many days during the summer, and one came up while I was working on this window (on the inside). Suddenly a LARGE lightning bolt hit the top of the Flatirons, about 3 miles away. These are large monolithic slabs of sandstone that were tilted up at a sharp angle when the Rocky Mountains rose. They are about 700' high (if I remember correctly). I received a h*ll of a jolt from that razor blade when the lighting struck. Now this was a bit a a suprise, since although I'm familiar with induced EMF in antenna systems due to nearby strikes, I would have never thought that a razor blade had enough metallic area to collect enough EMF to be perceptable. I believe it had something to do with the fact that at that moment the blade was in contact with a large insulator (the glass), and it rectified the current. Any comments on this effect? 73's de WB0IMC - Bob Wier College of Engineering Flagstaff, Arizona Northern Arizona University ...arizona!naucse!rrw | BITNET: WIER@NAUVAX | *usual disclaimers*