• The lightning flash can be termed as an electrical discharge in the atmosphere which includes one or more electrically charged regions which are commonly available in a cloud and can take different kinds of forms, for example, cloud flash or the ground flash. This can even occur between two cloud systems, within a cloud system or between one cloud system and ground and the most common one found in the whole earth is within a cloud system or between the cloud systems. These kinds of flashes are very much responsible for the bulk damage due to the effects of lightning to different kinds of systems which are the main reason that giving proper attention to the protection is very much important in the whole process. Hence, indulging into lighting protection systems and their effective implementation is very much important for the organizations as well as people so that these charges of lightning can be dealt with perfectly.

    The effects of the lightning strikes on objects on the ground are mentioned as follows:

    The electrical effects: The lightning strike, in this particular case, might consist of a series of current pulses of a very high magnitude and some of this voltage will also appear across different parts of the structure through which the discharge will take place. Hence, the lightning stroke and substantial potential difference can even develop into the equip potential concentric rings which will put the person and the livestock at some risk and sometimes these kinds of potentials can even be transferred to the points that are further away from the metallic piping. The electrical potential difference can even lead to the injury or death of the human beings as well as livestock.

  •  The thermal effects: Under this particular category, the current of the discharge will take place along with the metallic conductor and in the absence of the path it will take the route of a higher electrical resistance, for example, concrete. The resistance will further lead to bigger screens of issues and the local variations of the conductor will further cause melting of the material that is very much harmful.

  •  The mechanical effects: The mechanical damage due to the lightning is also because of the sudden heating procedures because whenever the lightning will strike a tree, the flow of current will further lead to moisture into the trunk which will suddenly evaporate. Hence, this particular high-pressure can lead to various kinds of issues in the long run and can also lead to several kinds of direct and indirect effects.
  • The indirect effects of lightning are mentioned as follows:

    This will help in effecting through resistive coupling: One of the most important indirect effects associated with the lightning is the resistive coupling effect because this particular rise of ground voltage will lead to affecting the electrical grounding systems where it will create heavy damage along the whole path, telecommunication cables and several other kinds of things.

  •  The effect by inductive coupling: The lightning strike old conductor will form the part of the structural predictive system of the building that will generate a large electromagnetic pulse of energy which can be very easily picked up by nearby cables which can lead to different issues.

  •  The lightning effects by capacitive coupling: Under this particular point, the high-voltage power distribution lines are very much prone to the direct strikes which could lead to various kinds of issues. Hence, further traveling across the distribution system is very important so the characteristics of the high-voltage frequency can be dealt with perfectly. Having an idea about the whole system will always allow people to take the best possible decisions in their interest.

    This estimate of lightning risk should be paid proper attention and following are some of the very basic things to be taken into consideration in the whole process:

    1. the type of loss due to the lightning systems
    2. Several kinds of ways due to which lightning occurs, cause the loss including both direct and indirect strikes.
    3. Different types of damages which the facility can be subjected to.
    4. The complete probability of the risk.

    The losses due to the lightning can be classified as follows:

    1. the loss to human life
    2.  The loss of service to public
    3.  The loss of cultural heritage
    4.  The loss of economic value

Measuring the extent of loss will always depend upon the number of people who were present in the building, importance of the whole system and the type of loss faced. Hence, there could be a direct strike on structure, strike near to the structure which means the indirect streak, directs record electrical lines or the indirect strike on the service lines which could lead to different kinds of issues. The most common damages include an injury to the personnel, fire, mechanical damages, release of dangerous chemicals, explosion, failure of electronic and electrical equipments because of overvoltage and several other kinds of related issues. Hence, the implementation of a compressive lightning protection system should be undertaken perfectly because it will be very much successful in addressing the prevention of different kinds of damages as listed above. This particular type of system will always help in addressing the prevention of damage because of direct and indirect strike and will further make sure that installation of several kinds of things will be carried out perfectly. Giving proper attention to the fire protection is very important because it will considerably reduce the overall risk and will help in making sure that people will be taking the best possible decisions. 

The type and extent of damage will always depend upon the following factors: