Nick Schade <nick_at_guillemot-kayaks.com> put it well, and succinctly: >> Lightening generally passes through thousands of feet of air between the cloud and the ground. Air is a excellent insulator. Don't be under the impression that a fraction of an inch of plastic, wood or fiberglass will effect the lightening in any manner>> [much snipped] I no longer have the post I made a month ago or so detailing how the local electric potential influences ___where__ lightning strikes. That is perhaps the main way to decrease your risk: avoid places, postures, and gear that will enhance the chance lightning will strike on you or near you. As Nick says, the "insulating" value of anything you might have about won't help you __if lightning strikes you__. But, you can do something about __not__ being the place where lightning strikes. Some examples of don'ts when lightning is about: Hold a stick or other object vertically (especially anything metallic). Park your fanny under a lone tree. Stick out above the ground or water in wide open spaces (... aaaak! that's what paddlers do!) Why avoid these "don'ts?" Because conductive objects, including ourselves, as Mike Edelman points out, which are attached to ground ("grounded") are part of the charge redistribution system that occurs as the electric potential builds up prior to a strike. If your noggin is the highest thing around (especially if it is sharply pointed like mine is), then it becomes a point of higher electric potential, and the point where a strike is most likely to occur. If caught in the open on land, crouch or cower, and place something dry and insulating between you and the ground -- the latter will help minimize your electric potential, minimizing the chance you will get hit. (But, as Nick says, that Thermarest pad will get zapped just as you will, __if lightning strikes you__.) Another don't is: Place yourself in/alongside the path the ground current is likely to follow. What's ground current? It is the flow of electrical charge within the earth which occurs as the lightning reaches earth. If your body becomes part of that path, you'll get zapped. This is probably what happened to the kayakers in the cave/bunker. Other incidents of injuries and deaths to persons taking shelter in a cave on a hillside have been recorded. Protection from ground current is enhanced by insulation from the ground -- another reason to park yourself on the Thermarest. For paddlers on the water, the upshot is: Does not matter terribly much what you wear or hold (excluding metal), so long as you do not form a "peak" in your vicinity, and what you hold does not, either. Of course, there is always the concept of sacrificing one of your taller companions by coating him/her with aluminum dust and having that person stand tall about 25 meters away ... but I digress. On the water? Just cower and low stroke to land -- on the water you are the tallest thing around unless surrounded by sailboats or powerboats. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Oct 29 2003 - 06:42:24 PST
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