UKRI Stories | The man who makes lightning strike - 101 Jobs That Change the World (Ep 19) @UKResearchandInnovation | Uploaded October 2021 | Updated October 2024, 8 minutes ago.
He might not be a Norse god - but Chris Stone does have the power to make lightning.
Watch his equipment in action instagram.com/reel/CUIbTrAgyPz
Making aircraft from composite metals is an important step to saving fuel and weight - making flying more environmentally friendly. But the composite materials are more vulnerable to lightning strikes that older aluminium airplanes, which means they need specially-designed panels to protect them from storms.
Those panels need testing before they go up in the air, which is where Chris and his team come in.
Chris is a Laboratory Manager at the Advanced High Voltage Engineering Research Centre at Cardiff University. He operates equipment capable of delivering thousands of volts in a fraction of a second - in other words, artificial lightning. This is used to simulate how different materials stand up to being struck by lightning. Chris and his team advise companies on how well their panels performed in their test rig, and potential ways to improve resistance to lightning damage.
It's not just aircraft, though - Chris has also assisted in research on lightning strikes on trees in tropical rainforests, and regularly helps students with their projects.
"We're quite open as a test facility," says Chris. "People could come to us and we'll probably take on stuff that other labs wouldn't because we're not really profit-making. If it'll fit in our rig and we deem it interesting enough to test, we'll test it."
See more world-changing jobs like these on our playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkjB0VcEl5P9yPj9tljiU1PMhadR7iU1C
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Welcome to 101 Jobs That Change The World - our campaign to highlight some of the many roles that contribute to success of the research and innovation system. In these videos you’ll meet the people who work – often behind the scenes – in a wide variety of fulfilling and interesting roles beyond the traditional image of a researcher or innovator.
Our 101 Jobs profiles offer a glimpse into the lives of the varied people who are working across the research and innovation system, some in remote or unusual locations. Their jobs are essential to the creative, dynamic research and innovation system we need to tackle huge challenges like Covid-19, climate change, how we’ll live and work in the future – and they really do change the world.
We are UK Research and Innovation, the body that allocates government funds for research. If you're a UK tax payer, your contributions help fund the work we showcase on our channel. And if you liked this video, follow us on these channels:
Medium: medium.com/@UKRI
Instagram: instagram.com/weareukri
Facebook: facebook.com/weareUKRI
YouTube: youtube.com/c/UKResearchandInnovation
Or sign up for our weekly newsletter public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKRI/subscriber/new?topic_id=UKRI_newsletter
#CareersInEngineering #ItTakesUsAll #ChangeTheWorld #CoolJobs
He might not be a Norse god - but Chris Stone does have the power to make lightning.
Watch his equipment in action instagram.com/reel/CUIbTrAgyPz
Making aircraft from composite metals is an important step to saving fuel and weight - making flying more environmentally friendly. But the composite materials are more vulnerable to lightning strikes that older aluminium airplanes, which means they need specially-designed panels to protect them from storms.
Those panels need testing before they go up in the air, which is where Chris and his team come in.
Chris is a Laboratory Manager at the Advanced High Voltage Engineering Research Centre at Cardiff University. He operates equipment capable of delivering thousands of volts in a fraction of a second - in other words, artificial lightning. This is used to simulate how different materials stand up to being struck by lightning. Chris and his team advise companies on how well their panels performed in their test rig, and potential ways to improve resistance to lightning damage.
It's not just aircraft, though - Chris has also assisted in research on lightning strikes on trees in tropical rainforests, and regularly helps students with their projects.
"We're quite open as a test facility," says Chris. "People could come to us and we'll probably take on stuff that other labs wouldn't because we're not really profit-making. If it'll fit in our rig and we deem it interesting enough to test, we'll test it."
See more world-changing jobs like these on our playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkjB0VcEl5P9yPj9tljiU1PMhadR7iU1C
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to 101 Jobs That Change The World - our campaign to highlight some of the many roles that contribute to success of the research and innovation system. In these videos you’ll meet the people who work – often behind the scenes – in a wide variety of fulfilling and interesting roles beyond the traditional image of a researcher or innovator.
Our 101 Jobs profiles offer a glimpse into the lives of the varied people who are working across the research and innovation system, some in remote or unusual locations. Their jobs are essential to the creative, dynamic research and innovation system we need to tackle huge challenges like Covid-19, climate change, how we’ll live and work in the future – and they really do change the world.
We are UK Research and Innovation, the body that allocates government funds for research. If you're a UK tax payer, your contributions help fund the work we showcase on our channel. And if you liked this video, follow us on these channels:
Medium: medium.com/@UKRI
Instagram: instagram.com/weareukri
Facebook: facebook.com/weareUKRI
YouTube: youtube.com/c/UKResearchandInnovation
Or sign up for our weekly newsletter public.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKRI/subscriber/new?topic_id=UKRI_newsletter
#CareersInEngineering #ItTakesUsAll #ChangeTheWorld #CoolJobs
