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Jacksonville, Fl - Lightning Count and Information!
Note: Lightning detection provided by this station is non directional and may
record strikes from a few miles to up to 50 miles away, depending on strength and atmospheric conditions! False strikes are
possible
Dumb Ideas in History
"On top of some high tower or steeple place a kind of sentry box ...big enough to
contain a man and an electrical stand [insulator]. From the middle of the stand let an iron rod rise and pass bending out
of the door, and then upright twenty or thirty feet, pointed very sharp at the end. If the electrical stand be kept clean
and dry, a man standing on it when such clouds are passing low might be electrified and afford sparks, the rod drawing fire
to him from the cloud. If any danger to the man should be apprehended (though I think there would be none), let him stand
on the floor of his box and now and then bring near to the rod the loop of wire that has fastened to the leads, he holding
it by a wax handle; so the sparks, if the rod is electrified, will strike from the rod to the wire and not affect him."
Benjamin Franklin 1750
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