Wasn't it Ben Franklin that proposed the use of a silk hammock inside a house for protection during a lightning storm?
I'd still like to see Mythbuster do some hammock/lightning tests.
Wasn't it Ben Franklin that proposed the use of a silk hammock inside a house for protection during a lightning storm?
I'd still like to see Mythbuster do some hammock/lightning tests.
To Boldly Hang Where No One Has Hung Before...
Don't think that we are ever "safe" in lightning while in the piney woods .... but what a show!!!!! You feel it deeply. Awed, scared, excited, impressed and strangely thankful to see and feel the power.
Shug
Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven
Amen to that. I have been out in storms of unbelievable intensity with nothing but lightning. The kind that you hear the zzzzzzt sound and then the thunder. The air smells like ozone, lots of it. I went through it once so bad that I thought there was no way I would survive. I will never forget it. My favorite campsite on the Manistee now.
“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
I'm blessed to have survived a near strike a few years ago. I was hit by some of the energy that "splashed" up from the ground.
A large difference in current potential causes several "streamers" to reach down from the sky and several "feeders" to reach up from the ground. When two of the opposites combine, a circuit is formed and all the other fingers take the same path to ground. That's why there are multiple flashes in each strike. As for protection, forget it. Even air only insulates to around 1 foot per 100,000 volts. Lightning is exponentially greater. The ground can't even "absorb" all of the energy without it splashing and traveling for some distance on the surface of the ground. Anything becomes a conductor if the voltage is high enough. Use common sense and don't group together in bad weather. That way someone will be able to administer aid if needed. Lastly, take solace in the fact that if you are hit you probably won't know it.
Brian
...and there came to be a day, all too soon, that I became aware that I could travel no more on my long journey. Though I did not arrive where I had planned, I believe that here is exactly where I am supposed to be...
- MacEntyre
"We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
www.MollyMacGear.com
I worked in a lab and we did work on military aircraft and had reports on lightening strikes.
Lightening is a complex phenomenon. Often there are as many as 6 individual bolts going up and the down and back up again, one after another reversing the direction of current. Often the first leaders just ionise a path for number two, but the subsequent ones only approximately follow the prior one, and an airplane can fly through a lightening bolt and only be hit by one as it moves out of the way before the next one hits and often they are hit in the cockpit and it exits from the tail. It pays to have good conductors built into the pane to take the current rather than it going down your system wires. Often the first leader goes up and creates the path down.
Jim
Yes, boy did I know it. It entered my left shoulder area and and exited my left hand. I wasn't knocked down but ended up dazed and collapsed in place. I was never unconscious and can remember being surrounded by a blue light. I did not hear a bang or boom but my ears rang for several days afterward. I could move my arm and fingers but had no real grip or strength in it for about three days. It was certainly a painful experience and one I don't wish to repeat.
Brian
...and there came to be a day, all too soon, that I became aware that I could travel no more on my long journey. Though I did not arrive where I had planned, I believe that here is exactly where I am supposed to be...
It's my understanding that C4 requires a sharply compressive force along with a high temperature for ignition. GIs in Vietnam used to light C4 on fire to heat rations in the field. (Heat, no compression = no explosion.) Blasting caps provide significant heat with a sharp compression that causes C4 to actually blow up.
HEY! My Combat Engineer training is finally useful!
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