Sounds fishy to me. I doubt if the iron content would be high enough and
it certainly would not form a continuous "wire" as in a lightening rod.
Also the plant tissue would not be insulated from the iron so I would
expect that the plant would be fried. If it was true then someone should
have a video of a tree being hit by lightening and surviving unharmed.If
such a spectacular video existed, it would certainly be shown on the TV
news and PBS.
*********************************************************************
David R. Hershey
Snail mail: 6700 Belcrest Road #112, Hyattsville, MD 20782-1340
Adjunct Professor, Biology/Horticulture Dept.
Prince George's Community College, Largo, MD 20772-2199
Email: dh321 at pgstumail.pg.cc.md.us
*********************************************************************
On 25 Mar 1997 wise at vaxa.cis.uwosh.edu wrote:
> To all,
>> A colleague of mine was in Arizona last week visiting the red cliffs
> at Sedona near Flagstaff. The local guides stated that Ponderosa pine trees
> which live on the iron-rich red cliffs, avoid being struck by lightening
> because they take up so much iron from the soil that they are electrically
> conductive, thus they act as lightening rods. Has anyone out there heard of
> this?
>> Bob
>> Robert R. Wise
> Plant Physiologist and Director, UWO Electron Microscope Facility
> Department of Biology
> University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
> Oshkosh, WI 54901
> (414) 424-3404 tel
> (414) 424-1101 fax
>wise at uwosh.edu>>>
