Lightning is a force to be reckoned with, but one that we didn’t actually know a ton about. We know we never want to experience being struck by lightning, and we know that we have a fear of showering during a storm thanks to lightning, but that’s about where our knowledge ends. So we set out on a little journey to learn more about this natural phenomenon and here’s what we found out!
Something pretty incredible happens when lightning strikes a beach; when lightning comes in contact with sand or soil, it fuses the grains together to create a small glass-like tube known as fulgurite. Not only do people love to collect these cool neat-ure tubes, but scientists love them for lightning storm demonstrations.
Whether we’re visiting someplace new or up and moving to a whole new area, we have to consider things such as what type of severe weather we may run into before moving there, right? (Right!) When we think of this weather it’s not uncommon to consider hurricanes, tornadoes, and/or earthquakes, but what about lightning? Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela receives the most lightning strikes in the world. It’s not unusual for this area to experience thunderstorms anywhere from 140 – 160 nights out of the year, and these storms roughly 28 lightning strikes per minute. That’s as many as 40,000 lightning strikes in one night! So be aware if you plan to visit Lake Maracaibo.
If we’re talking yearly strikes, there are 1,400,000,000 strikes per year, averaging 44 strikes every second.
There are five ways lightning can strike a person, let’s talk about that.
- Direct strike: this typically occurs to people that are in open areas, but this type of strike is less common than the other strikes we’ll be discussing. In direct strikes, a portion of the current moves along and just over the skin surface, while a portion of the current moves through the body. When it comes to surviving this type of strike, it depends on how fast a victim gets medical attention and the amount of current moving through the victim’s body.
- Side flash: this type of lightning strike occurs when a taller object is struck near the victim and a portion of the current jumps from the object to the victim.
- Ground current: when lightning strikes a tree or other object the energy tends to travel outward from the strike in and along the ground surface. Anyone outside near a lightning strike could fall victim, and because this type of strike covers a large surface area, this is the most common type of strike.
- Conduction: this type of strike happens when lightning moves long distances by way of a wire or metal surface. These surfaces don’t attract lightning, they just provide a path for it to cover. Anyone in contact with anything connected to metal wires, plumbing, metal surfaces, anything plugged into an electrical outlet, water faucets, doors, etc. could potentially fall victim to this type of strike.