Carmen Guerra-Garcia, an assistant of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, is the lead author of a new study analyzing the effect of wind on underground corona discharges. Image: Lillie Paquette, MIT School of Engineering
Carmen Guerra-Garcia, an assistant of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, is the lead author of a new study analyzing the effect of wind on underground corona discharges. Image: Lillie Paquette, MIT School of Engineering - On the ground, windy conditions strengthen these electrical flashes, but new experiments tell a different story for flying objects. At the height of a thunderstorm, the tips of cell towers, telephone poles, and other tall, electrically conductive structures can spontaneously emit a flash of blue light. This electric glow, known as a corona discharge, is produced when the air surrounding a conductive object is briefly ionized by an electrically charged environment. For centuries, sailors observed corona discharges at the tips of ship masts during storms at sea. They coined the phenomenon St. Elmo's fire, after the patron saint of sailors. Scientists have found that a corona discharge can strengthen in windy conditions, glowing more brightly as the wind further electrifies the air.
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