How lightning rods work | with The Royal Institution #lightningrods #science #shorts #sciencefacts

So, this is a thunderhouse from the 1930s that has been demonstrated at the Royal Institution to show us how a lightning rod works. We've got a little ball on top of our house. And what we can do is we can install a grounding rod that connects that ball to the ground. When lightning hits this, it'll travel down the rod instead of in the house and cause damage to people and everything inside. Let's take a look. when we have the rod attached and then we'll take a look at what happens to the thunderhouse when it doesn't have the protection of a lightning rod. So now we're putting in the gun and cotton that will ignite when there's a spark inside the house. Let's start by looking at what happens when lightning occurs with the lightning ground lightning rod connected. Everything is safe. None of the lightning goes into the house. Now, we're going to remove the lightning rod from the house, and it's no longer protected. Let's see what happens now when the lightning strikes the house.