00:04lightning rods at the top of buildings will often redirect bolts of lightning for safety but now
00:08experts say they've been able to redirect lightning with lasers for science the problem
00:13with lightning rods is that they have to be quite tall to be effective over a wide area with experts
00:17saying they need to be thousands of feet tall to really be effective something of that size
00:21is really impractical since it would be standing there all the time despite lightning storms not
00:25happening that often which is why scientists in switzerland are attempting a new technique
00:30firing pulses of high energy lasers into potential lightning storms researchers hit storm clouds with
00:35a thousand bursts of infrared light every second for six hours those high energy beams were meant
00:40to tear electrons from air particles which in turn create a low density pathway and as we know
00:45electricity travels the path of least resistance this is the photo one of their high-speed cameras
00:50caught showing a lightning striking seemingly far away but suddenly arcing towards the laser light
00:54near the tower which the researchers say traveled along the low density pathway of the laser for
00:59more than 160 feet before striking the tower with the researchers adding that while this is an
01:04incredible achievement for lightning safety possibly leading to averting natural disasters like bushfires
01:09it could potentially also someday be used to harness lightning for energy
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