Does lightning destroy rocks?: Results from a laboratory lightning experiment using an impulse high-current generator

To understand the destruction of rocks and changes to landforms by lightning strikes, laboratory experiments of lightning strikes were performed using three kinds of rock samples as targets. Artificial lightning with known electric current was simulated by an impulse high-current generator in the laboratory. The artificial lightning is different to natural lightning. The high-current generator can generate up to 20 kA of electric current equal to 50% of the value of natural lightning, but up to 50 kV of electric voltage which is a tenth to hundredth that of natural lightning. Experimental results showed that the rock samples with low mechanical resistance, tuff and rhyolite, were destroyed, while the rock sample with high mechanical resistance, i.e., granite, was not broken by lightning strikes. These results indicate that natural lightning causes rocks and bedrock to break. These imply that lightning might change landforms, for example gnammas and fractures on tors and mountain peaks where lightning tends to strike.