Electricity is one of the most convenient energy sources to use. And like any such source, in some cases, electricity becomes a source of potential danger to health, and often also to human life. All of this fully applies to the very first source of electrical energy that a person faced: a thunderstorm. Therefore, the basic rules of behavior during a thunderstorm should be owned by each person, and acquaintance with such rules should begin from childhood.
What is lightning, how does it occur and why is it so dangerous?
We have all known for a long time that thunder in a thunderstorm is not the wrath of the gods, but just the usual sound effect that is accompanied by a lightning strike. It is lightning in a thunderstorm that is the very blind danger from which it is better to stay away and from which you need to be able to defend yourself. Lightning is a normal high voltage electrical discharge that occurs during the breakdown of a dielectric, the functions of which in nature are performed by air. The charge is electrostatic in nature and accumulates in thunderclouds as a result of the friction of air masses against the ground.
Lightning can occur between clouds and the ground, as well as within the storm cloud itself. Due to their volume, the moving air masses accumulate very large energy, which, when a certain threshold value is reached, is spent on the formation of lightning.
So the voltage of millions of volts and the current strength of hundreds of kiloamperes for lightning are not such a rare occurrence. In this case, a small typical duration of lightning becomes a positive point: tenths and hundredths of a second. Therefore, the danger from lightning arises only from direct hitting a person or being near the point of lightning strike into the ground. The latter is due to the fact that, due to the finite resistance of the soil at high currents, even in short sections, very large potential differences arise.
How to protect yourself from being struck by lightning?
Understanding the mechanism of a lightning strike and its damaging factors immediately allows you to form recommendations for the correct behavior in a thunderstorm.
Air breakdown occurs in the place where the concentration of the lines of force of the electrostatic field occurs. Any object that protrudes above a flat surface and has increased conductivity becomes such a place. The human task is not to become such an object.
Therefore, when you are in an open area, you cannot:
- hide from the rain under separate trees;
- open an umbrella;
- talk on a cell phone.
At the same time, it is advisable:
- in the field, go down into any hollow or even a hole so that it is below ground level;
- extinguish a fire in a tourist camp in a clearing (smoke is a good conductor and attracts lightning well);
- do not hide in the forest under trees large in height;
- move away from the shore when near water bodies, Figure 1;
- hide in a crevice in the mountains;
- to get out of dangerous places in the city, Figure 2 (it is best to enter the entrance of the nearest house and go down to the underground passage);
In any location, you can ride out a thunderstorm in your car without touching its metal parts. The car itself should not be parked next to any poles (power transmission towers, cell towers, etc.) and again next to single trees, Figure 3. It is better to turn off the radio during thunderstorms.
Follow the recommendations and follow these rules until the last thunderclap.