[Rhodes22-list] sailing and lightning (long reply)

[John Lock]

At 07:38 AM 7/30/2006 -0400, Arthur H. Czerwonky wrote:
>If a mast grounding was used , one of Thompson's posted papers 
>indicated 8 gauge wire was the normal cable used, and would melt 
>under a direct strike.  I have emailed him for more info, especially 
>as his posted research is a little dated.  I still wonder if a 6-8 
>gauge copper, connected to the mast step area (well coupled at the 
>hinge bolt) and welded to a small copper plate would decrease the 
>odds of a bad outcome, given a direct strike.  BTW, I have no plans 
>to research this myself!  Who should we volunteer for this project, 
>Ed?  After all, he started this thread...

Here's a link to a table of copper wire ratings.  One of those 
columns is "Fusing Current", which is defined as the amount of 
current required to melt the conductor.  Notice that at AWG 5 (and 
larger), no fusing current is given.  Now maybe that's because, in 
most commercial applications, you're unlikely to get enough current 
to melt it.  But for lightning protection purposes, it's worth noting.

Cheers!

John

"I'd Rather Be Assimilating  --  Borg bumper sticker"