Awesome Lightning Experience
 

A friend & I were sitting on my porch Sat. watching the torrential rainfall of Dennis. We could hear ocasional thunder very far away.
All the sudden BOOM!... The lightning had struck a mere 80 yds from where we were sitting. The tree was an 100 ft. hickory and it blew the whole damn top out of the tree. We found debris 100 yds. away. We were looking directly at the tree when the strike occured. Pieces of wood like 2 x 4's were like projectiles suspended in the air.
I fell lucky that noone was hurt (except for the skid marks in our drawers). This is probably the most awesome experience I've ever had when it comes to nature. Pardon the poor quality of the images.. Guess you had to be there.
What an awesome display of POWER.
Never been looking at lightning when it struck until now. Scared the hell outa capnhowdy.

Interesting facts:

Lightning can heat the air up to 30,000 degrees Celcius. Temperature of the surface of the Sun, 6000 degrees Celcius.

Lightning can produce x-rays at energies more than 10,000,000 electron volts. The chest x-ray you had during your last physical exam was about 125,000 volts.

A Bolt Out Of The Blue. Joseph R. Dwyer. Scientific American, May 2005.

Lightning once destroyed a tree no more than 20 feet from my tent at summer camp.

I was on the other side of the lake, though.

I did see it happen, though, and it was pretty impressive.

I was in a car when lightning stike blew up a tree about fifteen feet from the car. Embers (in the rain mind you) blew across the hood of our car. the whole thing rocked like a cheap roller coaster. We thought we had been hit since we had bikes on the roof (and probably we also had guilty consciences).

Did you save the pieces for BBQing? :yum:

Oh, and is the tree ok?

So your life flashed before your eyes and it looked like; Oh, you braggart, you. :lol:

better than 20 minutes of blank film, I suppose. :)

I haven't thought of that, dar. Great idea. I did however save a piece of bark that's about 5 ft x 2 ft (rounded). It's as smooth as glass on the inside. I plan to use it on an art project.
As for the tree.... I doubt it will survive. I mean there's only HALF a tree there.
Funny thing about it.... I never saw a flash of light. I wonder why? :question:

The flash of light comes when the circuit is completed and the flow of electrons superheats the air (and water, dust, etc.) around it. By then you were having visions of your morning wood floating in the air. :)

nothing like that good morning wood...
reminds me of pine trees and wild hickory nuts.

You guys! Get a room!

:D

Surprisingly enough, I just learned that one of the safest places to bo during a lightning storm is in a METAL- TOPPED VEHICLE. wierd....

Must be fun in an airplane. I guess it happens all the time, and isn't too big a deal...

With rubber tires. Don't forget that part.

Oh, and whatever you do, don't touch the gearshift.

The metal vehicle provides a path of least resistance. Big zaps, like lightning, mostly travel not through the metal but over the surface with the help of ionized air.
Lightning isn't out to get you, it want's Earth, just don't get between them. :headshake

I don't see how the hell anyone could survive that plane strike. Guess it's like XOB said ....Looking for earth... Good thing those poor bastards weren't grounded.

And o yeah: I've learned lightning strikes FROM THE GROUND UP. It takes the pos. plus neg. to make it happen. Evidently (in my image) the pos met neg at about 60 feet above terra firma. No need to be afraid.... I think if lightning wants you, it gets you. Pardon me while I say ten Hail Marys.....Capnhowdy is NOT really a dark being....... I promise, God..... Oh what the hell.....I'll take my chanc.......BLIP!!!!!! :dead3:

Rubber tires don't help. The lightning already jumped through a mile of air, what's another 10 inches? It's the faraday cage that saves you.

We just saw the lightning show at the science museum in Bahston. Lady put her hands on the inside wall of the cage while it got whacked with lightning. So the shifter's probly safe too.

Was recently kayaking on a large open section of the river when a very strong and windy thunderstorm finally caught up with me. So where is the best place to be? Well, what does lightning seek? Conductive earth. A bad spot might be on the shore. Then your body becomes a path from sky to conductive earth. Same might be said of a rock in the middle of the river. When lightning struck the water, divers who were free floating were unaffected. But those touching the bottom felt some shock. IOW I just stayed in my boat and kept paddling. Meanwhile, the paddle is wood. The boat is fiber glass. Lightning is more likely to find other humans better connected to earth.

BTW it is also a myth that lightning strikes highest points. Often lightning strikes farther down the mountainside - where more conductive earth is located. Don't get in the way of 18 wheelers or lightning. Both go where THEY want to go. Better to give both a path where they want to go.

I remember reading a Popular Science, about the time movable type was invented, that on rare occasions lightning jumps from the earth to cloud rather than the other way around. They called it "super lightning" and said it was very strong. :mg:

But that's what they told me in Driver's Ed in the 10th grade. You mean they lied?

[quote] BTW it is also a myth that lightning strikes highest points. Often lightning strikes farther down the mountainside - where more conductive earth is located.[quote] tw

True... If you look at the first image, there were lots of places it could have struck that were much higher than the tree that was "chosen".