Is placement of lightning rods  on a metallic structure, made of Mild Steel, is justified?
919654
you need to place lightining rods as you call them, i call them " ground" rods  is to ground out the building per say, that way if struck by lightining, the path of electric is to be grounded out
177504
It can be.  The electrical arcs will be searching out a potential path to ground, which may be anything conductive within reach of the discharge surface.   Watched a demonstration of one in a classroom once, it began arcing to the metal tracks holding up the suspended ceiling tiles.  Had there been anything flammable in the ceiling, it could have started a fire.
471307
metal is a conductor, its gonna be much hotter in the summer and much colder in the winter then a wooden barn
975911
First of all, I'm not professional of physical. I don't know at all, but Iron and steel are really high permeability, and strongly attract to magnet. Seem like the steel bar would tell you which one rely force electron. I don't think Iron has any thing to do with steel.
470416
The only reason the empire state building is struck so many times, is because it is taller than everything else and due to the fact of it having a very thin point, a large amount of positive atoms congregate at this point and since the lightning is negatively charged atoms its is attracted to this point.  If you talking about it hitting the ground on the same spot then it is possible i think, i am not to sure but it is highly unlikely though.
88827
You have a better chance of being struck by lightning.
208738
The suggestions given ahead of me are a popular but untrue.\n\nLightning rods are sometimes hit by lightning, but their main purpose is to bleed charge from the ground up thru the point of the rod.\n\nClouds have charge from various sources in the cloud. Small pieces of sand blowing together and other various things. All this charge gets stored up in the clouds.\n\nWhen enough charge builds and has nowhere else to go, the path of least resistance to the ground is where the charge dissipates.\n\nThe actual mechanism is complicated, and there are what are called leaders which travel from the ground UP, and this sets off a series of events leading to the actual discharge.\n\nAnyway......the clouds and the ground act like a giant capacitor in essence.\n\nThe points on the lightning rods are areas of extremely high electric fields. The points are placed on them on purpose and for this reason. This ensures that charge will bleed off AT the points of the rods. The charges that bleed off then end up mixing with the excess and opposite charges in the clouds in the vicinity. This helps reduce the electric field, which is responsible for causing lightning in the first place.\n\nIf this field can be reduced then the chance for a discharge is also reduced and the structure will (hopefully) be safe from lightning damage.\n\nAll the buildings around the universities here have multiple small spikes on them every few feet, for just this purpose.\n\nTake a look at an airplane wing next time you get a chance. You will see small spikes at the tips, or you will see what looks like a rod with bristles at the end. This is a series of 'points' from which charge from the 'skin' of the plane will be bled of during flight and reduce the chance for interference with communications and other instrumentation on the plane.
1140417
There is a great article to read on this, from How Stuff Works.  Its under "How Lightning Works", but it talks about both lightning and thunder.  My students got a lot out of it.
627743
1.) what will the product be used for?\n2.) what would be the best type of construction of the product?\n3.) the product would then be designed.\n    a.) type of metal or alloy to be used.\n    b.) size of conductor needed.\n    c.) flexibility of conductor.\n    d.) single strand or multiple strands.\n    e.) diameter,circular mil area,weight per thousand feet,maximum direct current resistance needed for product.\n    f.) if multiple strand, type of construction.\n    g.) are there certain criteria to meet? (standards/specifications).\n    h.) type of jacket/compound to be used?
850162
In a storm cloud, the moving air makes tiny water droplets and ice rub together so they become charged with static electricity. The positive electrical charges float up near the top of the cloud and the larger ones, with negative charges, stay near the bottom. This separation of electrical charges is very unstable and lightning is the way the charges are equalized or become balanced. \n\n\nWhat you need?\n\nA large iron or steel pot (not aluminum) with a plastic handle. \nRubber gloves. \nAn iron or steel fork. \nA plastic sheet (a dry-cleaner garment bag is good source). \n\nWhat to do..\n\nTape the plastic sheet to a table top.\n\nPut on the rubber gloves.\n\nDarken the room as much as possible.\n\nHold the large iron pot or pan by its insulating handle and rub the pan vigorously to and fro on the plastic sheet. \n\nHolding the fork firmly in the other hand, bring its prongs slowly near the rim. When the gap between pot and fork is small, a tiny spark should jump across (A darker room will help you see the spark more clearly).\n \nWhat you will Discover\nIt is as though the pan is the thundercloud, the fork is the lighting rod and you are the Earth's surface.\n\nPlease note: The humidity in the air can affect static electricity. If the air is damp, such as during the winter, then this experiment may not work.
260652
Glass is non-conductive and was used as an insulator in homes and electric poles.  Since glass is non-conductive, lightning is not attracted to it and will not strike it.\n\nIf lightning could somehow be induced to strike glass, the most likely result would be that the bolt would melt a hole through the glass and continue to something more conductive on the other side.  There is very little chance that the glass would catch fire as silica (the basic material of glass) is not considered to be a flammable material.
624019
The tires have nothing to do with it, between the dirt and moisture on the outside of the tires and the metal belting inside the tires, the rubber won't insulate you.  However, since the frame of the car is metal and forms an unbroken 'cage' of sorts around you, most likely the electricity will flow through the metal around you and into the ground.  This assumes that the doors are shut and you don't touch the metal parts of the frame that you can reach from inside the car.  Then again, lightning is unpredictable and often behaves strangely, so almost anything is possible.
604074
While FRPs have a higher tensile strength than steel, they have a much lower modulus of elasticity.  In other words, they're very "stretchy."  So using FRP rods for an arched suspension bridge might be a challenge since they'll be long, they won't be of uniform length, and they'll be subject to varying amounts of tension.
476930
Everything has to be perfect for you to be struck, even if you are made of titanium.\n\n80% of lightning goes from cloud to cloud. The 20% that is between the ground and sky, 75% of it goes up, meaning the ground strikes the cloud. \n\nAnd to make it even tougher for a metal person to be struck, they have to be one of the highest points in an open field, rooftop, whatever. Which is why trees are more often struck than anything else, even if it is next to a house with a metal pole, or a car on the road....\n\nisn't that interesting?
108122
http://science.howstuffworks.com/lightning.htm
401412
As I understand it, the metal takes the hit of the lightening and the key to your safety is to avoid touching any metal attached to the base of the car while the lightening strike is active.\n\nI certainly hope I'll never have any cause to find out whether my understanging is correct!
1123936
the lightning actually starts in the ground from static electricity...I always thought it was odd starting from ground...