Thread: Working of lightning rod

Why is the tip of lightning rods pointed and not disc shaped?
Does it work by repelling the clouds or is it that it attracts the charges to make them flow through it?

Lightning rod's are pionty, because Ben Franklin thaught it would be best that way. It became tradition. Bluntt ends are actualy better. When a rod with a pointy end is inside an electric field (for example an electric field that is the result of a thunderstorm), a cloud of ions forms around the pointy end. This ion cloud weakens the electrical field. Lightning is attracted less. This effect does not occur with rods with a blunt end.

The rod provides an easier path for the lightning to pass through. Electricity would rather pass through the path of least resistance. This is why lightning rods help houses/buildings/ect.

Aren't the ions the electric field? Do you mean instead that it impedes the ability of the lighting to "see" the metal?