transmission and conduction redux

many of our boats are coated with an external layer of copper. This copper "sheet" is thin but huge. It is also connected to the mast and shrouds via a bonding system. 1. would this not make it effective in disipating static electricity? 2. does it become an effective ground plane for radio transmission? Reggie

Are you talking about the copper oxide in the paint? Copper oxide is a semiconductor. My gut reaction is that this would not be the same thing as copper. Lightning and static discharge are not well understood as far as I can tell. All I know for sure is that if you bond your throughhulls to your mast electrically, your boat will probably sink if hit by lightning. http://l-36.com/lightning_sinks_boat.php You can follow the two links at the bottom of that page for more information on lightning and bonding. Allen On Sat, Jul 9, 2011 at 6:21 AM, r good <my… [at] hotmail.com> wrote: > ** > > > many of our boats are coated with an external layer of copper. This > copper "sheet" is thin but huge. It is also connected to the mast and > shrouds via a bonding system. > > 1. would this not make it effective in disipating static electricity? > > 2. does it become an effective ground plane for radio transmission? > > Reggie > > >