Isn't Lightning Cool?

[Lasernerd]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

Sorry,,
is it fixed?

 

[yuandrew]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

[ QUOTE ]
The_LED_Museum said:
Since I was in my electric wheelchair, the rubber tires (or tyres) provided enough insulation between me and the sidewalk, so I didn't get zapped. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif I quickly ducked into a nearby bar to wait the rest of the electrical storm out.
{/endquote}

Really Craig? I have heard that at the amount of voltage that lightning has, you'll need more than 1 and a half miles of rubber to insulate you. Even if the tires on your wheelchair/scooter could insulate against that, you would probably be out in the rain and wet tires will still conduct the electricity.
Cars are safe not because of the rubber tires but because the electricity passes around the metal frame of the car; flowing around the passenger compartment and going down into the "ground"

 

[yuandrew]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

Lightning is cool but when it is too close to you, it is really scary! I had lightning hit pretty close to me a few times; once I was in my car but another time, I was in my garage with the door opened. The bolt came down from above and hit a tree on the next block behind the house across the street from mine. Not to mention the thunder sounded more like a huge explosion! Even then will you have been impressed by the power of a lightning strike from that distance.
Another scary experience was when I was walking home from school. It had rained a little earlier (which I had not expected that day) but there was still a little bit of thunder now and then. Well, I was about a block and a half from my house and had just passed one of my neighbor's front yards that had three tall (about 30-40' maybe) palm trees in a row. I was about 2 houses away when there was a huge explosion! I turned around to look but the trees had not been struck; it had come from inside the clouds. Nevertehless, I freaking ran the last 100 feet and got inside just when it started to pour.
The only "Cool" experience I had with lighting was a storm over the San-Bernadino area for those of you who are familier with So-Cal. I live on a hill where I can get a great view of the city lights. It was about 6 in the afternoon but still sunny where I was (no clouds overhead!) However, about right over Ontario, Fontana, San Bernardino, and Redlands you can see the thunder cloud and lightning was jumping up through the cloud and also hitting the ground.

 

[Tombeis]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

Funny, I was talking last night to my son who lives in Vermont about the strong thunderstorms we both experianced over the weekend.

He told me about a time when he live in an apartment in downtown Burlington Vermont and experianced a near lightening strike. He said the air in the room became electrified with a very light electrical charge. He was momentarily pushed against the wall. When he recovered, his dog had jumped into the bathtub which an engineer later told him was a well grounded area, and a safer place to be during a lightening hit.

Another safe place to ride out an electrical storm is under high tension power lines. They are designed to take a lightening hit and ground it properly.

I did a surveillance job a few years ago for a power company. We were located on a hill above the power plant. The area was known for it's electrical storms, so we wanted to locate our trailer in a safe area. The company engineers told us to place the trailer directly under one of the towers. We did and despite everything nature tried during several storms, we never were hit by lightning.

As to the cost of a lightning hit on you home, my daughter lives in a house which is located on a hill that is the higest point in Cuyahoga County Ohio. The house was hit by lightening three years ago. The damage to a corner of the roof and electrical service and equipment inside the house amounted to forty thousand dollars. There was no fire which probably saved their insurance company many thousands more.

Since then the owner of the house next to them has installed lightening rods. My son in law says they are unnecessary on his house because why? "Lightening never strike twice in the same place."

I think that thory was disproved long ago.

Nice photographs Nitro!

 

[Nitro]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

I just got these shots the other night.

 

[jayflash]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

Nitro, I suppose you've had more than enough lightning lately.

 

[BuddTX]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

I did NOT get this shot, and I am mad, but the other day there was a vibrant, COMPLETE DOUBLE RAINBOW outside my house, with ALL KINDS of lightening in back of the rainbow.

It was way cool!

 

[Nitro]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

Yeah, we had storms all last week.

It's more amazing how many I miss though.

 

[The_LED_Museum]

Re: Isn\'t Lightning Cool?

[ QUOTE ]
yuandrew said:
Really Craig? I have heard that at the amount of voltage that lightning has, you'll need more than 1 and a half miles of rubber to insulate you. Even if the tires on your wheelchair/scooter could insulate against that, you would probably be out in the rain and wet tires will still conduct the electricity.

[/ QUOTE ]
We're not talking about a direct strike here; rather the ground's surface which could become electrified by a nearby lightning strike. If one were barefoot or using wet sandals in the immediate vicinity of the lightning strike, they could get zapped by the EMF generated on the surface by the lightning bolt. The rubber tires (the dry portion, anyway) prevented me from getting zapped by this surface charge.