Abstract
THE accompanying effects were obtained when attempting photographs of lightning, and were rather the result of accident than design; an impending thunderstorm, with a somewhat limited horizon, prevented the camera from being pointed in the direction whence the most numerous of the lightning flashes occurred, without including in the field one or more of the electric arc lamps (Brush) which are the illuminating power of our town. Upon developing the few exposures made, it was noticed that whether or not the picture took in the flash, and in many cases this did not appear at all, there was exhibited upon the films the light of the permanent lamps, and that from them a flow of electricity proceeded towards the ground in an irregular line. Ground or summer lightning, as it is frequently called, produced the same effect upon the lamps, but when neither was present an exposed film only showed a sequence of white dots or perpendicular short strokes in the places occupied by the lamps, as seen by the naked eye at night. The result was sufficiently curious to invite further experiments in the same direction, but this could not be done upon the same lines as before, for the electric system varies with the months upon the sea front at Dover. In autumn, winter and spring the usual lighting is considered sufficient for all purposes, but during the visitors' season an additional illumination is provided by festoons of smaller glow lights from standard to standard, with occasional cross festoons over the roadway, the whole producing a charming effect at night; but, as will be seen in No. 6, the detail as to these becomes confused to any one not acquainted with the relative position of the lamps.
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WEBB, S. The Effects of Lightning upon Electric Lamps. Nature 61, 343 (1900). https://doi.org/10.1038/061343a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/061343a0
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