Bob, Dave, et.al., >>Bob Denton wrote: >> >> I wonder if Carbon Fiber is a positive or negative feature (no pun >> intended) in a lightning storm. > >Dave Kruger wrote: > >Probably not a significantly better conductor than a wet (with water) >glass/epoxy shaft, but I don't know the specific conductance of a carbon >fiber/epoxy laminate. Maybe that "Lightning!" paddle guy will know -- >he makes 'em, after all! Carbon in graphite form will conduct electricity. Not as well as aluminum, but better than fiberglass. I did some testing with an ohm meter years back to see, after I'd heard from one of my specialty suppliers that they quit selling graphite for composite structure building after noticing that it wreaked havoc with their computers. The wife of a couple (near Boulder, CO) ran the little home composite reinforcement supply business while her husband was a computer consultant of some kind. We have a couple computers here at Lightning Paddles and I've not noticed any problems that I couldn't blame on Bill Gates' lack of programming expertise....<grin> Maybe the "can't hire decent help" is Billy's best excuse? I don't remember the resistances I measured, and I'm sure they'd vary considerably from paddle to paddle. They were pretty high, but still did conduct. I don't think I'd worry about using a graphite paddle on the water from that standpoint. I do remember that someone (in Maine?) was killed a few years back by lightning and his paddle shaft was aluminum. I don't know if it had any bearing on the death, just that the fact was mentioned in the info source. High voltages such are produced by lightning (the electrical kind, not the paddle kind <grin>) would probably not be affected much by paddle material (or boat material -- some boats have graphite reinforcing in them, too). The air is a pretty good electrical insulator. Fiberglass is a slightly better insulator than air. Graphite would be less so. Someone earlier in this thread mentioned the "cone of protection." I've heard that it works both ways. A tree gets hit by lightning and there are burn spots in the grass all around the tree where minor bolts hit the ground near the tree. All the power in lightning doesn't take the path of least resistance. I wouldn't even hesitate to use an aluminum shafted paddle on the water if nothing lighter was available. I see someone else just posted a similar "don't worry, nothing you can do about it" response. Hank Hays Lightning Paddles http://www.paddles.com/ lightning_at_paddles.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue May 05 1998 - 08:06:21 PDT
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