Gentlemen, engineers, the question of sand, lightning, glass - how difficult is it to embody the plot from a comic book?

Question

Do it yourself

It has little to do with the topic it, but the course of your thoughts is interesting - how realistic is it to implement this idea from a comic book?

What to keep sand in, if in a glass flask - will it melt? what rope to use? in the end - how to find melted sand after rain?
How far from what infrastructures could this be done in terms of safety?

Answer 1

1) In the city - don't even try. Only in the field.
2) The balloon will most likely burst earlier. Use a kite.
3) Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkbckiJD6Q
4) No capsule needed. Connect the removed voltage directly to the sand on the ground.
In fact, you need an ordinary lightning rod, in which the grounding is stuck into a box with sand, and then into the ground.

Answer 2

As far as I know, high pressure in the capsule is still needed there. And by the way, why sand? Graphite zhezh, otherwise you will get the usual glass.
Actually here .

Answer 3

Well, luring lightning is not a problem, as it turned out .

Answer 4

I'm afraid the result will disappoint you. Even if one could get the lightning to discharge into a pile of sand without allowing the charge to spread across the surface, the result would be Fulgurite , a brittle, nondescript mass. Attempting to run a discharge through a container of sand will most likely destroy it, so I would suggest using a sandy beach or a quarry.