Lightning can be very dangerous. A lightning bolt can have an electric potential of millions of bolts and can be hotter than the surface of the sun. About 2,000 people are injured by lightning strikes around the world each year. In the United States, 9-10% of those people struck die. Lightning is the #2 weather killer in the U.S. The odds of anybody living in the U.S. being struck by lightning in a year is 1:700,000.
Lightning strikes can injure humans in different ways.
-If it is a direct strike, it is usually fatal.
-Contact injury, when the person was touching something that was struck.
-Side splash, when the current jumped from a nearby object to the victim.
-Ground strikes, when the current comes from a strike from the ground to a nearby victim.
-Blast injuries, which causes hearing damage or blunt trauma when being thrown to the ground.
Lightning bolts have been known to heat up the sap of a tree so fast that the tree explodes. When lightning strikes someone it could stop the heart, cause bad burns, damage the nervous system, and stop the breathing. Some people can survive lightning strikes by being given CPR.
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Most lightning strikes are reported to hit water than land. electric currents are conducted by water than anything else.
ReplyDeleteThats pretty cool that a tree can explode from the sap heating up to fast.
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