On the subject of odd questions.
How about on other large bodies of water like the Great Lakes?
If it does, what's the effect on fish and other marine life?
Over the course of dreaming up a short story, I wondered if intelligent squid would build lightning rods...
So, the fish and other underwater creatures do not get normally get hurt, unless they happen to be very close to the surface at the time of a strike.
Fish Shocker
Quote: AlanHow does it compare to 'fishing' with those old phone cranks?
nah, just use dynamite [g]
Quote: weaselmanOf course, lightning can strike a body of water. When it does though, the electric current mostly (actually, completely) stays on the surface. This is called "skin effect",
Interesting. thanks.
BTW, I was betrayed by my native alnguage. I know the expression is that lightning stirkes, it doesn't fall, but it's the reverse in Spanish...
Quote:and is also the reason the safest place during a lightning storm is inside a car (that is made of metal, not plastic).
The way I understand it, a car is safe in a thunderstorm because it's made of metal and electricity moves through the path of least resistance. Therefore if lightning strikes the car, the energy will flow all around it, metal being a good conductor, and won't move through the pasenger compartment, air and the rest not being as good conductors.
Truth is I hardly understand electricity at all. I couldn't define a Volt or a Watt to save my life.
Quote: Nareed
Truth is I hardly understand electricity at all. I couldn't define a Volt or a Watt to save my life.
Two atoms were walking down the street one day, when one of them exclaimed, "Oh no - I've lost an electron!"
"Are you sure?" the other one asked.
"Yes," replied the first one, "I'm positive."
Quote: odiousgambittrivia Q: why is it dangerous to stand under a tree when there is lightning? That lightning tends to pick a tall object is only half the answer.
If lighting does strike the tree, the person under it can get killed. I'm sure sure why. When I lived in Baltimore several people were killed at the same time when lightening struck the tree they were taking refuge under was hit.
Quote: Nareed
The way I understand it, a car is safe in a thunderstorm because it's made of metal and electricity moves through the path of least resistance. Therefore if lightning strikes the car, the energy will flow all around it, metal being a good conductor, and won't move through the pasenger compartment, air and the rest not being as good conductors.
Kinda, yes. But the reality is more interesting than this. In fact, you can be sitting in the car, with both your hands (and/or other parts of the body) firmly pressed against the metal parts of the carcass, and be perfectly safe, as long as you are touching the surface inside the car, and not outside.
Due to the skin effect, if lightning strikes your car, the current will remain entirely on the outer surface of the carcass, and never reach the inside, even if the metal is very thin.
Quote: odiousgambitthe other one replied, "well, I'm going to split"
That's a half-life crisis for you.
Quote: odiousgambittrivia Q: why is it dangerous to stand under a tree when there is lightning? That lightning tends to pick a tall object is only half the answer.
I think you could either get electrocuted by being near the tree (there's electric fields around it and near the ground), or you could get hit by the tree itself if it topples. Or more likely, a large branch.
Quote: odiousgambittrivia Q: why is it dangerous to stand under a tree when there is lightning? That lightning tends to pick a tall object is only half the answer.
Tree is not a very good conductor of electricity, a human body is much, much better.
If you were standing, under a huge metallic column instead of a tree, you'd be fine - if it got struck, the charge would just go directly into the ground, just make sure, your feet are close together.
A tree is a different story. Like Nareed said, the current wants the path of least resistance. It turns out, that the path through air, and then down your body is less resistance than straight down the trunk of the tree. You'll get hit by a "secondary lightning" so to speak - the spark flying between the trunk and your body.
Quote: weaselmanTree is not a very good conductor of electricity, a human body is much, much better.
If you were standing, under a huge metallic column instead of a tree, you'd be fine - if it got struck, the charge would just go directly into the ground, just make sure, your feet are close together.
A tree is a different story. Like Nareed said, the current wants the path of least resistance. It turns out, that the path through air, and then down your body is less resistance than straight down the trunk of the tree. You'll get hit by a "secondary lightning" so to speak - the spark flying between the trunk and your body.
We'll say you have nailed it! The tree itself is pretty much a non-conductor, while humans are 98% water or somesuch. So the tree attracts lightening by its height, but once it strikes ...
The DEC uses them in their work, for one. It's attached to a long antenna, not unlike those old school ones found atop houses in pre-cable days (although smaller), which are stuck into the water to get past that "skin effect" spoken of earlier. Give 'er a zap and inspect what comes up. When the Snakehead made it's way up to Northeast, that's what they used to see which waters needed obliterating with poisons. They use them in my local water to time the lamprey poisoning. That little process is highly suspicious, if you ask me, but should probably save the derailing details for another thread...
Quote: odiousgambitWe'll say you have nailed it! The tree itself is pretty much a non-conductor, while humans are 98% water or somesuch. So the tree attracts lightening by its height, but once it strikes ...
Oh, it's worse than that. We're mostly salt water. Not 98% but a great deal. Anyway, salt water is a much better conductor than plain water.
Quote: NareedOh, it's worse than that. We're mostly salt water. Not 98% but a great deal. Anyway, salt water is a much better conductor than plain water.
More surprising facts - pure water is not conductive at all.
Quote: FaceMore surprising facts - pure water is not conductive at all.
It's also non-existent in nature.
BTW I exaggerated a bit. We're not mostly salt water, but rather saline water.
