w_tom,

While you are correct in many ways, CJT is also correct in pointing out that
your suggestion that lightning is made of sine waves is faulty application
of Fourier. You could just as easily say that lightning is made of wavelets
(and more correctly, actually) or many other functions. These are all just
mathematical constructs to describe a complex phenomenon as components that
can be manipulated for analysis. The point that lightning is a pulse and
can be analyzed by its component frequencies should be clear. That it is
"made of sine waves" is an equally clearly faulty application of the
concept. If you would learn to be a bit more humble in accepting criticism
of your language, useage, and out of context application of concepts, the
correct basis of your arguments might be more often appreciated. Mostly,
you end up looking like an idiot.

Leonard

"w_tom" wrote in message
...
You are hung up on a pulse. True, the sine waves that
combine to create a pulse exist with boundary conditions. A
true sine wave goes forever - has no boundary conditions. But
how do we measure the frequency response of circuits? We
apply a signal that is chock full of 'sine waves' at various
frequencies (for a limited time - the boundary condition) and
then learn which sine waves come out the other end. We apply a
pulse. We measure those 'sine waves' with a spectrum
analyzer. If pulses did not create sine waves at all those
frequencies, then the spectrum analyzer would do nothing
useful. Just another example of how a pulse is far more than
just a pulse.