Will Lightning Affect a Dome?

According to the experts, when lightning strikes a Monolithic Dome the electricity will travel to the rebar and dissipate into the footing. Lightning rods are used in conventional homes to prevent the lightning from traveling through the highly resistive wood of the home and starting a fire. They are unnecessary in a Monolithic Dome. The structure is already grounded.

In most cases, lightning will follow the path of least resistance. In the case of the Monolithic Dome, that path is down the rebar and into the ground, so it is unlikely to cause any problems to electronics in the house. The only concern may be the small amount of electrical wiring in the dome wall itself. However, the wires could be run through an insulated conduit to compensate.

We are only aware of one Monolithic Dome home and one church hit by lightning. In both cases, a small hole was burned in the Airform, the foam and the top layer of concrete. It terminated in the rebar. In the first case, the hole was not repaired. In the second case, it was patched with caulking.


This blog post was originally published as part of the President’s Sphere