Modern structural plastics used for towers can only support about 7,000 volts per inch outdoors when well maintained, so a tower supporting 8 million volts requires a minimum of about 12 stories in height, which also conveniently places the runaway breakdown zone safely above the ground where it is easier to view with instruments.
factualpending
Speaker
Greg LeyhEvidence Quote
“modern structural plastics that you would make these towers out of only support about seven thousand volts per inch outdoors and that's if they're well cared for so each tower needs to be a minimum of about twelve stories in height”
Source
The Secret Life of Lightning: The Science of Giant Tesla Coils | Greg Leyh— The Long Now FoundationCreated: 8/12/2026, 10:15:24 PM
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