Lightning Safety: Protection for You and Your Home

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A single lightning bolt can leap across 90 miles of air and generate temperatures four times higher than those on the surface of the sun.
A single lightning bolt can leap across 90 miles of air and generate temperatures four times higher than those on the surface of the sun.
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"Thunder days" per year, by region.
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Cones of protection provided by lightning rods.
Cones of protection provided by lightning rods.
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Schematic for the connections of conductors to grounds.
Schematic for the connections of conductors to grounds.

Lightning, like other forms of violent weather, can be humbling. By comparison, human efforts at destruction seem paltry. Just one thunderstorm, for example, may release the energy equivalent of 100 nuclear bombs. And at any given time, there are around 1,800 of these storms at work around the world.

With all the discretion of a maniac with a machine gun, the clouds over our planet let loose at the ground some 100 times per second. On the authority of up to a billion volts and 200,000 amperes–generating temperatures four times higher than those on the surface of the sun–a single lightning bolt can leap across 90 miles of air. All this it does as a routine part of its job, which is to stabilize the 300,000-volt potential that exists between the ground and the electrosphere.

Lightning is feared as much for its unpredictability as for its power. About 500 North Americans will be struck by lightning this year. But, for mostly inexplicable reasons, two-thirds will survive the experience. Two thousand buildings will burn, and $30 million worth of timber will be destroyed. But many houses and trees will be struck and show no damage. Perhaps the best illustration of lightning’s capricious nature is the true story of the man who survived being hit by lightning only to die when the ambulance rushing him to the hospital was zapped, causing the driver to lose control and careen off the road.

Given all that, the idea of “lightning safety” might start to sound like a lost cause. And while it’s true there are no surefire measures that will entirely protect you or your property from lightning, there are ways to reduce personal risk and to provide a modicum of protection for buildings.

Reducing the Risk of Being Struck by Lightning

  • Published on Jul 1, 1989
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