This crazy laser can stop lightning

hey, finally a video i can contribute to! i live near the mountain they installed the laser. one of the scientists did a presentation in our university just a few weeks ago. a full video on this topic would be very interesting!

some things i wanted to add to this short:

a. the laser works in the invisible infrared light spectrum. they made it visible and green by frequency doubling and only for promotional photos

b. the laser extends the amtenna "only" for about 50 m (165 ft). after that the laser is not focused engough to ionize the air. so its not harmful for higher flying planes.

c. there are no future plans to harvest the energy from lightnings but there are some interesting use cases outside of it being a lightning rod. there might be one usable effect where you can stop clouds from raining with lasers and therefore control the weather.

if you want to know more you can read the paper that published on the 16th of january. just google laser-guided lightning and you'll find the nature article.