It’s an absurd promise, and my colleague James Temple explored it for his most recent story. (You should read the whole thing; there’s a lot of interesting history and weird science.) As James points out in his story, there’s a lot of uncertainty about how well this will work and under what circumstances. But I was left with another question: If we could prevent fires caused by electrical sparks, should we do so?
I can’t help myself, so let’s take a moment to talk about how this lightning prevention method supposedly works. Basically, electricity is static discharge – virtually the same thing as when you rub your socks on the carpet and then touch the door handle, as James says.
When you move around on a rug, the friction causes electrons to bounce around, forming ions and creating an electric field. In the case of lightning, it is the snowflakes and small ice balls called graupel that rub together. They are pushed apart by the updraft, creating a charge difference, and ultimately causing electrostatic discharge—lightning.
Starting in the 1950s, researchers began to wonder whether they might be able to prevent lightning strikes. Some people came up with the idea of ​​using aluminum coated metallic husks and fiberglass threads. (The military was already using the material to disrupt radar signals.) The idea is that the sawdust could act as a conductor, reducing the build-up of static electricity that can result in lightning strikes.
The theory is fairly accurate, but results to date have been mixed. Some research suggests that you may need a higher concentration of husk to effectively stop lightning. Some of the early studies testing the technique were small. And there isn’t much information available from Skyward Wildfire about its efforts, as the company hasn’t released data from field tests or published any peer-reviewed papers that we could find.
Even though this method may actually work to stop lightning, should we use it?
Fires caused by lightning may become a growing problem with climate change. Some research has shown that they have increased significantly In the Arctic boreal region, where the planet is warming fastest.
But fire isn’t an inherently bad thing – many ecosystems have evolved to burn. Some of the worst wildfires we see today are the result of a combination of climate-fueled conditions with policies that have allowed fuels to grow so that when fires do occur, they burn out of control.
