Well here I am to save the day, well not really, just here to tell you the safest place to be during a lightning storm. Which I suppose could save the day if it happens to be lightning and you are out in it.
So Lightning is a massive arc of electricity that has a negative charge within clouds, all electricity flows from negative to positive, so naturally the negative in the cloud wants to get to the positive ground. Electricity as most of us know it needs a conductor to travel along, and an arc is when current jumps through the air. Electricity likes to travel along the path of least resistance, air makes quite a good resistor. It is a bit like yourself, it is a lot easier to walk along a footpath than it is to walk through knee high mud, so you walk along the footpath. It is a lot easier for electricity to move through a tree, a person, a building or car than it is to move through the air.
Now the safest place to be is inside a car, It is even safer than being in a house. When a car is struck by lightning the electricity is channeled straight through the metal body and then a short jump through the tyre into ground. When electricity is as strong and powerful as lightning the rubber of a tyre is not enough of an insulator to stop it.
Inside a house there are a few dangerous channels that lightning can often jump from into a person. Metal plumbing through taps and shower heads can channel lightning through a person, Power sockets have also been known to arc lightning through electronic equipment and into people. So a house is quite safe if you are away from plumbing and electrical equipment. A car has actually been proven to be the safest because you are not actually grounded when in a car and your body is a better reistor than the metal body of the car, so the electricity will move through the body of the car.
A few things to remember:
- If you can hear thunder you are within striking distance. Thunder can be heard from about 18 kms (12 Miles) away from a strike, yet lightning has been known to travel up to 75kms before striking the ground. So if you can hear thunder you are well and truly within striking distance.
- Stay away from tall trees and light posts often the lightning will travel through the tall object and then into the ground, but when it reaches the ground it often spreads across the wet ground and can travel up one of your legs and down the other back into the ground. It usually only travels max of 12m (36 foot) across the ground before the charge moves down through earth. The further away you are from tall things the better.
- If you happen to even notice your skin tingle and your hair stands up during a thunder storm, crouch down as low as possible with your feet together, cover your ears and tuck your head down and nothing else touching the ground. This will reduce the chance of a direct strike if you make yourself shorter than other things. Feet together will reduce the chance of a nearby strike and having the electricity move up one leg and down the other.
Safest thing of all is to stay in your car if your travelling or go indoors and keep away from wall sockets and plumbing.
For great ideas on gifts for you little scientist have a look here at
Kids Science Toys.
The Photo Below is an amazing photo taken over the skyline of my home city Perth in Western Australia.
