lightning releases huge amounts of energy in a short period of time that s what makes it so destructive the concept forests and buildings on fire. lightning has damaged the fingers of the famous statue of christ the redeemer in rio de janeiro. one scientist is now harnessing artificial lightning to break down concrete. in what can be done with the more than $50000000.00 tons of concrete waste that accumulate each year in germany a mineralogist of the phone of the institute for building physics has come up with an unusual answer. to this we want to decompose this used concrete into its components by shooting ultra short lightning pulses at it then to force a lightning into the concrete we put it under water otherwise the post would dissipate in the air and nothing would happen. the idea was originally