You might have grown up in an environment with a climate that lent itself to lightning storms. You might have grown up hearing the thunder which inevitably accompanies lightning. And you might therefore have grown up hearing common myths about the danger and safety involved during a lightning storm.
You are not alone. To the Greeks of ancient time, lightning was Zeus’s powerful weapon. To the early Scandinavians, lightning was the angry tool of which Thor threw bolts at enemies. And the Hindus had Indra, the Navajos had the lightning blink of the thunderbird’s eye, the Bantu had the lightning bird god, Umpundulo, and the Moslems had a god of storms, of rain, of thunder and lightning.
But cause and effect rationale has—thanks to scientific reasoning—come a long way, and we now know the difference between myths and realities about lightning are great. Consider the following examples:
MYTH: Heat lightning is harmless lightning that only happens after a heat wave.
REALITY: Heat lightning is actually lightning that is far enough away that you cannot hear its accompanying thunder warnings. It is possible that you will soon be able to hear the thunder and see the lightning up close as it may be traveling in your direction.
MYTH: If a person is hit by lightning, he/she is electrically charged and should not be touched
REALITY Lightning victims are not carriers of the electricity and should not be left alone. In fact, the one hit by lightning should receive immediate medical attention.
MYTH: If it’s not raining the lightning poses no danger.
REALITY: Lightning can occur up to ten miles from any rainstorm, and is just as dangerous.
MYTH: If you are in a car during a lightning storm, you are safe because of the rubber insulation.
REALITY: 10,000 volts per inch of lightning can penetrate foam mattresses, rubber soled shoes, and can jump 10-12 feet—over and into areas deemed safe.
MYTH: Lightning doesn’t strike twice.
REALITY: Statistics show lightning does hit twice—and more than twice. For example, it hits the Empire State building 22-100 times a year, while it has been known in other towns to hit the towers in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma over and over: four times in ten minutes during one single lightning storm it struck.
MYTH: If you are in a boat on the water when lightning strikes or approaches, it is best to go ashore
REALITY: It is true that you should get out of the water, but some experts say rocky and treed areas (banks of river) can be just as risky
MYTH: If, alternatively, you hide in a cave you will be safe.
REALITY: If the cave is too shallow or is too heavily saturated with metallic minerals, you may be just as much at risk.
MYTH: All metal attracts lightning, so you must not wear jewelry or carry any metal conductors.
REALITY: As one meteorologist once explained, a 55,000 foot high /15-mile wide electrical volt is not going to be drawn to your anklet or earrings.
MYTH: Lightning rods on a building attract the lightning.
REALITY: Lightning, first of all, is not “attracted”, and second of all is—if it is about to strike the area of concern, regardless--redirected by a lightning rod, which sends the electrical impact “to ground”.
MYTH: One doesn’t need a lightning rod if one has a TV antenna—which acts as a lightning rod.
REALITY: TV antennae do not provide grounding and do not redirect lightning to ground. In fact, the TV antenna is a target.
MYTH: Lightning hits the highest point or tallest object.
REALITY: Hundreds of incidents have been recorded involving lightning hitting the trees instead of the tower that dwarfs them, hitting ground mere feet away from telephone poles, and hitting ground in the parking lot of four story buildings, for example.
MYTH: Many tall trees surrounding a building will protect the building from getting struck.
REALITY: Trees are not protectors against lightning. In fact, if lightning does strike such trees, there is the possibility of a powerful “ground charge” that can and does travel and that can hit the nested building.
MYTH: Surge protectors will prevent your computers from harm during a lightning strike.
REALITY: Again, unfortunately, the surge protector is just a little bit bigger than your cousin’s jewelry and just as insignificant to the million-voltage lightning bolt. The surge protector is good insurance against some problems, but not against actual strike damage.
MYTH: You could use lightning as a great source of electrical power.
REALITY: You could if it endured for longer than a few seconds, if you had a way of capturing and containing and then sustaining it…which you can’t, for as the scientists will tell you, the violent surge of activity would overwhelm and therefore destroy any human concoction created to ensnare it and harness its energy.
So you can’t be Zeus, but you don’t have to fear him as one who will exact revenge with his handy lightning bolts of wrath, either. And yet you can’t be 100% safe in any particular place--from the threat of lightning striking, but at the same time, you can trust in the advice to opt for a larger rather than smaller building, to stay in a structure that has lightning protection versus one that does not, and/or to climb into a completely enclosed vehicle rather than stay outside the vehicle. As well, you have the power to increase safety measures by avoiding large bodies of water, great open fields and areas such as golf courses, small shelters such as bus stops and dugouts, towers, flag poles, light poles, and by avoiding using electrical appliances and equipment, telephones, computers, sinks, tubs, and showers, and anything else that has conductive surfaces and conductive power.
Aha. So that is why, when we were young, we were so disgruntled at the admonitions about watching TV but were at the same time thrilled we had to stay away from the sink and from, therefore, having to do the dishes. Now that was not a myth, thank God.
