If you are caught in a thunderstorm, you are not supposed to run. Lightning, which hits a tree nearby, can endanger a runner as its electrical energy flows through the ground. Since the potential energy decreases with increasing distance from the tree, it can be stronger under the rear leg of the runner than under the front one. Because electricity flows towards the lowest potential, this 'step tension' causes the current to pass through the body, since it conducts the electricity better than the ground.
A person is safer squatting with his feet together in a depression in the ground to avoid bolts from above. The electricity flows away underneath him, as if he were a bird on a power line.
No comments:
Post a Comment