Re: BOATING/FISHING WHILE LIGHTNING
As an avid storm chaser and pilot with several years education in meteorology, I feel compelled to add to this discussion. After listening for years to ridiculous explanations and speculations describing the behavior of lightning I still laugh at some of the stories I hear. Stories of car tires protecting occupants from their insulation and fisherman getting hit and surviving without a scratch still make me shake my head.Truth is, there is a lot left to learn about how lightning behaves. Nevertheless, there is a lot we DO know about it. Yes, lightning is electricity and for the most part, follows the same rules; like taking the path of least resistance. But lightning also writes a few rules of its own, like it takes whatever path it wants.<br />If a car is hit by lightning, NO WAY the rubber tires do a thing. The fact that lightning did hit a car demonstrates that there is a closed circuit and electricity is flowing. If the tires stopped the lightning, then it would have nevr hit in the first place. It's like what BONDO said, the metal shell acts like a cage and diverts the electricity around the driver by offering an easier path. People who claim to be hit by lightning and saved by wet shorts or feel a jolt of electricity in a bow rail, have absolutely no concept of what has just really took place. Lightning does not just come down from the clouds and hit an object or the ground. In fact, hundreds of what could be described as forks of electricity spread out down from the clouds and once they get near the ground, draw similar charges up into the air. When any two meet, a complete lightning stoke is BORN. A lightning stroke that occurs miles away can be part of one single chain of charges that never got completed. People that experience charges or jolts of electricity that they think is lightning are almost certainly a part of this preliminary anatomy of a lightning bolt but never part of the real thing. <br />Think of lightning as a giant room with hundreds of doors marked exit and thousands of people pushing their way to get out. Only a few of the doors actually open but that doesnt prevent hundreds of people from trying all of them anyway. When someone finally does find a door that opens, everyone else stops what they are doing and finds their way to that one good door and funnels out even if there are still other doors that might works. <br />In the real world, lightning can behave in very mysterious ways. The fact that lightning is rarely a ruler straight line would suggest that it does not follow the rule of taking the path of least resistance. But that has a lot to do with the inconsistencies in the air. When it comes to solid structures, lightning usually does take the path of least resistance. But dont forget, you can only stuff so much water into a garden hose. Many objects simply cannot handle a full charge of lightning and other objects in the immediate area have to share the charge. Why do you think its unsafe to stand under a tree? The tree attracts lightning by offering an easier path to the ground than the surrounding air. But once the electricity get to the near the ground, YOU may be easier to travel through than the tree. Now, in a scenario such as this, one must remember that lightning didnt come down from the sky, go into a tree, exit the tree in favor of a human and then finally into the ground. What really took place was lightning came partway down from the sky and simultaneously a charge came up from the ground and built up in YOU, the human near the tree. That charge came through your head since its trying to find its way to the sky stopped and said the best way to go is in that there tree. So it goes into the tree and out the top until it meets the lightning coming down from the sky. On average, these charges about the same as a household toaster enough to kill but not always. So, if you do not end up being part of the completed circuit, i.e. lightning does occur but somewhere other than the tree you are beside, youll live to tell about it. And 99 people out of 100 will say they were hit by lightning when they werent.<br />Once lightning comes down from the sky, its going to go through something. CHANCES are, and I say chances because there is nothing definite here, that the person standing under the tree will be the one that is killed as opposed to the standing several hundred feet away. But it could go wither way. The one that isnt standing under the tree will also probably feel the effects of the lightning, because electricity pooled up in him too. But that electricity never manifested itself into a true lightning bolt because it had the disadvantage of having no where to go, like a tree, once it reached the top of the head.<br />The same is true in a boat. Chances are, two boats side by side, one tin and the other glass, the guy in the tin boat will be the one that gets hit. So in that respect, he has the greatest risk. BUT, he has a better chance of survival since the aluminum MIGHT carry the entire charge of lightning through the hull. In a glass boat, people inside offer an easier path than the fiberglass, and therefore might be more likely to be killed if lighting does strike it. But overall, the boat itself is less attractive RELAVTIVE to the aluminum boat in the formation of lightning. Unless its really convenient, lightning might simply choose to go through thin air. <br />All this is mostly true, so far as the safety of the occupants is concerned, providing that the boat is still the highest point, i.e. no one is standing up. A bimini top, while being the highest point on the boat and having steel tubing, is hardly significant protection. - no more than a tent. Chances are, if you are underneath one and lightning hits, its going to go though you as well. <br />Even a house is little protection. People often have the misconception that if they are inside something, like a tent, car, boat or house out of the rain they are protected. What a false sense of security! If it werent for the plumbing and electrical wires in your house, you might as well stand under a tree.The air inside the house is more conductive to electricity because of the dust and pollen inside than the air outside. All lightning has to do is penetrate a half inch of wood on the roof! NO problem for as much as 500 million volts.<br />Bottom line is, no place is truly 100 % safe, except maybe a bank vault. But what is better? If you are on an aluminum boat in the middle of Gods country, is it safe to go to stand on shore and wait it out? Course not. But dont be out in the middle of the lake either. If you consider that when a lightning bolt forms, it does have a limited area in which it will strike. If you offer the only advantageous route within that area, -like standing in the middle of a treeless fairway or occupying a boat in the MIDDLE of the lake, you are increasing the risk. Its best to go near shore, but dont get out and stand under a tree or go into a tent. Put up your top and lie down in the boat. This way you give lightning several other options for it to complete its journey.<br />Several years ago, I wrote to a professor at the University of Florida, Martin Uman; probably the worlds foremost authority on lightning. I wrote to inquire about constructing my own lightning rod for my boat. I have an aluminum boat that I frequently sleep in, even though there is no cuddy. In Georgian Bay, there are frequent storms and although I am nuts about storm chasing, I am scared ****less when I am in a boat or tent during a storm. What I had done was take some 4 gauge wire and placed some clips on it to attach to my fishing poles while they were vertical in their holders. I then attached this to an anchor with a detachable bolt and let it hang over the side if I was docked, or run the length of the anchor rope if I was anchoring. He informed me that it was indeed better than not having a lightning rod at all, but said it was quite important that the highest point of the wire - at the end of the fishing pole form a point, but he didnt say why. He also said, actually gave me a formula, that the wire have as few turns or bends in it as possible; a ninety degree bends was a no-no! Lightning will shoot straight through rather than taking a sharp turn. Finally, an anchor wasnt ideal as a dispersion plate, although but better than none at all. Ideally, a flat piece of sheet metal at least one square foot was better. Although this entire set-up would indeed INCREASE the chances of being hit, it would greatly minimize the chances of it hurting me.<br /> One final thing to keep in mind, you only have to be near lightning to fry your electronics. The magnetic field that is set up as a result of a lightning strike even several hundred feet away induces a current in anything conductive, from your fish finder to your wrist watch.<br />Anyway, guess I have gone on long enough. What can I say, I am a buff! Hope this is beneficial in answering some questions to anyone bored enough to read it through.<br />MajBach
How true is this? Thanks
