Lightning regularly strikes the top of the world famous Empire State Building in New York City, but what happens to all that electrical energy Mother Nature delivers after it strikes?  Where does it all go?  More importantly, what if anything, is located at the top Empire that electrically attracts these highly dangerous and lethal lightning bolts?

Scientists have proven that lightning is typically attracted to the tallest objects first, or ones which offer the quickest, easiest path to an earth ground.  But, there's one other important reason why lightning favors the top of Empire.
 
The answer is simple... there's a massive broadcast tower located on top of Empire, constructed of tons of solid steel that support numerous radio and television broadcast antennas, all of which (by design), are grounded, or directly attached to the tower.   For safety purposes, the tower itself is also electrically grounded to the core of the Empire State Building.  This is called "Absolute Grounding".
  
The photo to the left shows a good example of exactly why the tower must be electrically grounded, and why Empire's management team closes the 86th floor observation deck to tourists and employees during all lightning storms, but there is one other important reason for grounding the massive tower which, generally speaking, most people are unaware of.

It's to protect millions of dollars of broadcast equipment, invested and owned by the many radio and TV stations licensed in New York City and New Jersey, who are renting business space located in the very top floors of the Empire State Building.  All of this highly expensive "state of the art" equipment is, in one way or another, electrically attached to the metal broadcast tower.

Looking Back: In 1931, when construction of the Empire State Building was finally completed, radio broadcasting was still in the experimental stages (or infancy). Nobody (with the exception of a few dedicated radio broadcast engineers and visionaries), ever dreamed that one day, a tower would be placed at the top of Empire that would hold as many radio and television stations as it does today. In fact, back in 1931, the very top of the building was originally designed to dock dirigibles (blimps), not a tower or antennas. But, all that changed when throughout the 30's and 40's, radio and television made unprecedented technological advancements, especially during and after WW2.