User:Naijaphysicists41

Lightning Can Kill.

Lightning carries a mighty wallop, with a peak power of more than a billion kilowatts transmitted in one stroke, lasting 30 microseconds. Anything that conducts electricity can provide a path for this electrical surge, including anything plugged in at your home – corded telephones, plumbing, refrigerators, televisions, metal doors and window frames. By the time the surge reaches indoors, however, much of the power jolt has been reduced. This is why, getting a mild electrical shock touching such items during a storm is a frequent occurrence, whereas deaths or serious injuries are uncommon. Surge protectors in your home can kick in when lightning attempts to travel through the power grid, but even the best can’t always provide complete protection from a direct and powerful hit. Metal pipes in your home can carry a current as well. The “myth” about the dangers of showering or bathing during a storm is not really a myth. The plumbing can transmit a shock. There have been no reported lightning-related deaths resulting from bathing or showering at home in the past few years, but it remains a good idea to fore-go such activities during a storm. Lightning doesn’t have to hit you directly in order to deliver a shock. More often, a nearby strike (on a tree, for example) can travel through the ground and reach you. Its power will be diminished, but still can be strong enough to give you a good jolt.Most people who are struck by lightning are not hit directly, but get a "side flash" when the electric discharge jumps from the object that was hit. In 2006, the 37-year-old Vancouver man was out jogging when he received just such a side flash from a tree that had been struck. He was thrown over 2 metres, as a result of the electricity making his muscles contract. This is normally the main cause of any injuries sustained from such strikes, says Eric Heffernan of Vancouver General Hospital, who treated the man. However, people are surprisingly resistant to the electricity itself, because the skin has a high resistance. Normally the current passes over our bodies in a "flashover" - unless a conductor, such as excess sweat or metal, directs the flow of electricity into our bodies. Violent contraction That is what happened when the man's earphones "directed the current to and through his head", Heffernan and his colleagues found. The violent contraction of his jaw muscles dislocated and fractured his jaw. Two long, thin burn marks extended up his chest and the sides of his face, and there were ""substantial" burns inside his ears. The sudden expansion of gases in his ears due to the hot earphones ruptured his eardrums, and he was deafened. A cartilage graft from elsewhere in his body was used to patch up the ear-drums, but the patient still has 50% hearing loss and must use hearing aids, Heffernan told New Scientist. The fractures and burns have healed. However, the iPod was destroyed irreparably. "We couldn't find any reports of similar events [involving headphones] in the medical literature," he says, although there have been press reports of a Colorado man being similarly hit.On saturday 11th of July 2015 at around 8:32PM I was in my Lodge at okwor ngbo, Ohaukwu local govt. area of Ebonyi State Nigeria. I was watching the series 'Game of throne' season 4. I'd  collected the complete season 4 and 5 earliar that day from my friend but couldn't watch it since there was no light, and when light came later that evening I decided to watch the movie. I thought it was a perfect time to relax and watch the movie since it was raining that evening and the room was warm, but something else happened. I had an earphone of which only one of the earpieces was working, I connected it to the laptop and started watching the movie. I had just watched two episodes in the season 4 when a very bright lightning shone into the room through the window immediately I felt a large SHOCK in my head that I almost slumped, my hands were partially paralise, I felt pains in my ear (the ear that was having the earpiece in it) and my head, I thought my eardrum bursted, but it didn't. the pains went on for about 70hours later. I bet you the shock that hit me could be same to a 300volts of electricity,and you know what that means. My Scientist Explanation...  Lightning is attracted by small piece of metal. that's why is a bad idea to make a call wit a metallic phone outside when its raining,that alone can kill you. And also lightning could pass large current through electric wires, in my case the wires in my earphone attracted the lightning, then conducted very high current into my head that caused the shock. A boy's eardrum were busted during a thunderstorm because he was putting on earphone while jogging in the rain. Now he has only 50% hearing ability. In another case a man was thrown 8feet above the ground because he was jogging in the storm with his ipod to his ears. Well these are just a few cases of the many lightning death. You might see lists of suggested safety tips like this: -Avoid metal objects -Stay away from trees -Avoid being the highest object -Minimize ground contact. But there is no evidence that any of these actions will be of any real help to the outdoorsperson in a storm. Distancing yourself from trees is a good idea, but it won't eliminate the danger. Just being outdoors at all is the risk.