Inquiring Minds  Questions About Physics  Lightning as an
accelerator  Hello helpful physicist I was just wondering,have
you ever used lightning as the source of energy to power a
particle accelerator? example:A small linear accelerator is
constructed,mounted vertically,approx:6ft high.and this being
the type to irradiate matter in the open air,rather the specimen
is placed at the top of the device.along with a big toroid,or
sphere to disallow the high potential from direct contact with
the would it be possable to know what polarity to make the
accelerating electrode?or is it that switching device, that you
referred to in the letter you wrote to the 10 year old boy, that
wrote to you in 1989?   Greetings, Lightning doesn't actually
heve enough voltage to be of much use to us in designing new
acclerators. For example, the Fermilab Tevatron (the most
powerful accelerator in the world) accelerates protons to
1,000,000,000,000 volts ("ten to the twelfth volts"). In
contrast, a typical lightning bolt might develop