can we dodge lightning when we see it coming down our direction?


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denniskee

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Oct 26, 2003
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9pm chinese news reported lightning struck a tree on hill top in a sunny day in taiwan, 5 people resting under the tree suffer minor injuries. it is reported that because of the bright sun light, we can see the lightning, so it makes it impossible to dodge it.

whats your view??
 

i think if u can see the lightning coming down your direction it's already too late..

knew someone who actually got hit by lightning out at sea or rather it was not a direct hit but close enough for the shock wave to cause to do some damage and cause a little lightning burn.
 

I think you'd be dead.

Do you think you are the flash? Can you outrun LIGHT? 3 x 10^8 m/s will pawn you!
 

does lightning travel at speed of light?

the reason it seems slow, coz its far away. Likewise when you see a plane, it seems to be flying slowly in the sky, but its actually flying at afew hundreds km per hour. :bsmilie:
 

It's not "afew hundreds km per hour", it's 300,000km per SECOND, approximately 7 times round the equator of our little planet.

Lightning from the sky reaches you faster than the time it takes for the visual image to travel from your eye to the brain. And the time lightning registers visually in your retina is the time it hits you. It's physically impossible for you to "see the lightning coming".
 

9pm chinese news reported lightning struck a tree on hill top in a sunny day in taiwan, 5 people resting under the tree suffer minor injuries. it is reported that because of the bright sun light, we can see the lightning, so it makes it impossible to dodge it.

whats your view??
try and let me know.
 

i would like 2 meet a person who successfully dodges a streak of lightning. :cool:
 

Dug up some info on (dodging) lightning.

=> You don't need to be struck by lightning to be killed by lightning:

"A lightning storm over a mountain or hill may unleash a lightning bolt that travels sideways up to 10 miles literally reaching over the hill and striking you. In your location the sky may be completely blue, and sunny, without any clouds in the sky at all! Suddenly you may be struck and injured or killed by a lightning bolt literally “out of the blue”. In America every year 25% of all thunderstorm related deaths and injuries are caused by a lightning bolt striking someone ahead of the main storm, sometimes in clear and sunny areas. 65% of all thunderstorm lightning accident deaths and injuries are caused by people being struck by lightning bolts after the thunderstorm has passed. Only 10% of lightning injuries are caused by people outdoors directly under a thunderstorm."


=> There are warning signals:

"Lightning high voltage discharges do not occur at the speed of light. A small initial discharge (Trichel pulse) emanates from the base of a thundercloud and is usually 10 to 30 meters long. Trichel pulses, commonly called “stepped leaders or dart leaders”, continue to form off the end of each lightning step leader and continue to “step” downward towards the earth. This lightning “stepped leader and dart leader” process occurs over a period of time measured in milliseconds which causes the lightning bolt to be totally formed in ¼ to ½ second. In the dryer, western areas of the United States, lightning strikes spawn dozens of destructive forest fires every year. "These lightning stepped leaders are not straight lines, always taking the path of least resistance through the air, which is not always the shortest distance between two points, thus producing the highly erratic zig-zag pattern we see in lightning bolts. At the same time the stepped leaders and dart leaders are forming off the based of a lightning thundercloud, lightning stepped leaders of opposite charge begin forming off objects on the ground and move upward in 10 to 30 meter long steps toward the cloud.


=> The main bolt travels from ground to sky:

"When these step leaders connect the main spark forms and a very heavy current begins to flow. This is the bright discharge we see as a lightning bolt. Currents of hundreds of thousands of Amperes produce an ionized lightning bolt channel approximately 2 inches in width and up to 10 miles in length. These long spark discharges do not always go directly between the earth and the clouds. Sometimes the lightning discharges can reach out behind or ahead of the main lightning clouds at distances up to 10 miles. A unique property of lightning bolts is that the main, powerful heavy lightning stroke currents do not travel from the cloud to the ground. The main lightning current travels from the ground upwards to the cloud."


Taken from http://www.resonanceresearch.com/lightning.htm
 

why do people think that lightning travels at the speed of light?

just because it is "LIGHTning" doesn't mean it travels at the speed of light. I am sure it moves pretty darn fast and you cannot dodge it :) but it am also pretty sure it moves at a speed MUCH slower than light.
 

Not everyone who gets hit by lightning will die.
There are some lucky chaps where the lightning travels along their skin (burnt off their clothes) but they lived to tell the tale. The internal resistance of each person is different so some are lucky, some not so.
 

Not everyone who gets hit by lightning will die.
There are some lucky chaps where the lightning travels along their skin (burnt off their clothes) but they lived to tell the tale. The internal resistance of each person is different so some are lucky, some not so.

Sound like a reborn...
 

I kana struck twice by lightning before...

All i can see is WHITE MURKY LIGHT AROUND ME for that few seconds...
like i have gone heaven or superman lights has descended on me..

...thought that I am going to die liao...the end of the world...
 

I kana struck twice by lightning before...

All i can see is WHITE MURKY LIGHT AROUND ME for that few seconds...
like i have gone heaven or superman lights has descended on me..

...thought that I am going to die liao...the end of the world...

xian gu also kena struck by lightning... kaoz... mei you tian li already... :bsmilie:
 

why do people think that lightning travels at the speed of light?

just because it is "LIGHTning" doesn't mean it travels at the speed of light. I am sure it moves pretty darn fast and you cannot dodge it :) but it am also pretty sure it moves at a speed MUCH slower than light.

:think: yah hor, never thought of that in this way. anyone knows the speed of lightning?
 

xian gu also kena struck by lightning... kaoz... mei you tian li already... :bsmilie:

It really happened leh...Now I treasure my life after I escaped death 3 times (2 lightnings and 1 bike accident).
 

9pm chinese news reported lightning struck a tree on hill top in a sunny day in taiwan, 5 people resting under the tree suffer minor injuries. it is reported that because of the bright sun light, we can see the lightning, so it makes it impossible to dodge it.

whats your view??
U know what? The next time u're out jogging, u try to outrun MRT train going straight and level.

Or never mind, an easier challenge, try to outrun a Honda Super 4 travelling straight & level going at a consistent speed of 120km/h.

If u succeed at either attempts den we can start asking and talking abt dodging lightning. :D
 

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