All You Need To Know About Lightning

Other Odds and Ends

    Everyone knows that Benjamin Franklin is famous for flying a kite during a thunderstorm and getting lightning to hit a key that was tied to the string.  Well, the same thing was done by a Russian scientist who was killed immediately.  If he had been standing in a doorway like Ben was it would have kept him dry and safe.  The experiment that Ben did wasn't even true to fact.  That was not lightning that hit the key.  It was the atmospheric electricity in the air before lightning, that caused the sparks off the key.  So please don't try this at home.

    There is of course some good that comes out of lightning.  Lightning forces nitrogen and oxygen to combine with the water of the rain and carries the nitrogen down into the soil.  This causes natural nitrogen fertilizer which is used by plants.  And there is always photography.  Wonderful photos have been taken of lightning.

    What is fulgerite?  Fulgerite is where lightning strikes the earth and melts the soil into a glass-like state.  It is basically  fossilized lightning.

    Generally you are safe in an airplane, car, or inside you home.  Airplanes are constructed to take a lightning bolt and run the current along the outside of the aircraft.  The fuel tanks are designed to prevent electrical charges to enter.  The car is somewhat shield because of the rubber tires.  The metal in the car is what offers the current a safe route to the ground.  If you aren't touching metal you should be okay.  Your home is safe as long as you are not using plumbing fixtures, phones, computers, or other electrical appliances.

    Lightning rods were invented by Ben Franklin.  They don't attract or repel lightning.  They are a means of lightning to get to the ground safely.  The lightning rod must be properly installed and grounded.  Metal pipes and air ducts use to serve this purpose but are now non-existent.

    The fear of lightning is known as keraunophobia.  The fear of thunder is brontophobia. 

    There is this thing called the billion dollar lightning strike.  It is a lightning strike that hit a major power line in New York.  It cause a blackout in New York City for 24-hours.  The billion dollars comes in with the looting that happened during this time.

    Anytime you are outside during a thunderstorm it is dangerous.  In the United States, most deaths happen during a lightning when they ore in open fields or ball fields.  In descending order of most deaths is under trees, while boating and fishing, near tractors and heavy equipment, on golf courses, and on telephones.

    If you're outside and your hair stands on end, find shelter immediately.  The reason this happens is because there is an extremely high electric field in the atmosphere.  If you get caught in the open, get as close to the ground as possible without putting your hands down.

    Lightning has many colors the tell you what is in the near a lightning strike.  If there is rain in the cloud the bolt will appear red, and blue if there is hail.  Yellow lightning is made by a lot of dust in the air.  And last is white lightning.  This is the result of low humidity.