# About Lightning

> Source: https://lps-pacifica.com/about-lightning/

# About Lightning

Lightning is a natural electrostatic discharge between two electrically charged regions — in the atmosphere, or between cloud and ground. It chooses its own path, and it decides in microseconds.

In 2019, Vaisala's GLD360 network detected **2  353 476 704 lightning events** worldwide. Only about **20  %** of them were cloud-to-ground — the ones that matter to a building.

A single cloud-to-ground flash peaks at around **10¹²  watts** for some thirty microseconds — about **a thousand times** the output of a 1 GW power station — and releases **1 to 10 gigajoules** : the energy that same station produces in **one to ten seconds**.

This page gathers what we have measured and documented — **articles, studies and field cases** : the physics that decides where a discharge begins, the historical record, and the cases we have handled ourselves.

## Articles & studies

[ ![Corona inception voltage test: at an 80 mm gap, a point electrode incepts at 24 kV and a 250 mm sphere at 45 kV \(AC 50 Hz\)](/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/corona-inception-voltage-24kv-point-45kv-sphere-gap-80mm-lps-pacifica.webp) ](/corona-inception-voltage/)

Science

### Corona Inception Voltage: Why the Shape of an Electrode Decides When Air Starts to Conduct

A standard sphere gap measures when air breaks down. A 2016 study measured when air starts to ionise: at 80 mm, a point at 24 kV, a 250 mm sphere at 45 kV.

[Read the article →](/corona-inception-voltage/)

[ ](/residential-white-house-lightning-proof-spin-2025/)

Case study

### How to Make Your House Lightning-Proof in 2025: A SPIN Case Study

A Da Nang residential case study: repeated lightning damage, the repairs, and how Tesla-inspired SPIN protectors are used to prevent strikes.

[Read the case study →](/residential-white-house-lightning-proof-spin-2025/)

[ ![Tesla pointless lightning rod — 1918 press article](/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/tesla-pointless-lightning-rod-1918-archive-lps-pacifica.webp) ](/tesla-lightning-protection-method/tesla-pointless-lightning-rod-1918/)

Tesla archives

### Tesla Has New Pointless Lightning Rod (1918)

The full October 1918 article from _The Electrical Experimenter_ : why a pointed Franklin rod attracts lightning, and why Tesla's rounded terminal repels it.

[Read the archive →](/tesla-lightning-protection-method/tesla-pointless-lightning-rod-1918/)

[ ![The Fallacy of Franklin's pointed lightning-rod — 1919 archive](/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/fallacy-of-franklin-1919-archive-lps-pacifica.webp) ](/tesla-lightning-protection-method/the-fallacy-of-franklin-pointed-lightning-rod/)

Tesla archives

### The Fallacy of Franklin's Pointed Lightning-Rod

Tesla's 1919 essay on Franklin's pointed rod: the point drains almost nothing, invites the strike — a rounded terminal is what repels it.

[Read the archive →](/tesla-lightning-protection-method/the-fallacy-of-franklin-pointed-lightning-rod/)

**Not sure what your building needs?** Send us a photo of the roof and the surrounding area — we tell you what we see, free of charge.

[Contact us](/contact-lightning-protection-expert/)