SillyDog701

[Antony]

Last year, there was a report that a then 17-year-old Jason Bunch was [sdt=11683]hit by lightning while mowing the lawn[/sdt] with his MP3 player on.

A 37-year-old Canadian jogger suffered "multiple injuries to his head" after ill-advisedly standing under a tree during a thunderstorm while listening to his portable MP3 player.

It is said that the victim was struck by lightning while listening to "religious music". Somehow the heaven wanted to say thank you.

Read the story.

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[keith]

thats a very interesting thing. I heard about that, and it makes you think about all the things we do during the day, that could affect our lives in the blink of an eye.. expecially when they are tings we dont even think about.

another example, would be those who use metal framed umbrella's. who would ever think that would be a bad idea, right? haha

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[Antony]

another example, would be those who use metal framed umbrella's. who would ever think that would be a bad idea, right? haha

Good question.

The best solution is to stay indoor (in a building with lightning rod) during storm I guess.

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[freddy]

it does not make any sense why the mp3 player would have caused the person to get struck by lightening

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[Don_HH2K]

it does not make any sense why the mp3 player would have caused the person to get struck by lightening

Two reasons. The first is that the magnets in a pair of headphones conduct electricity, as do the copper cable running to the MP3 player, giving the lightning a quicker path to the ground than if it were traveling through air. The second is that the battery in the device has its own electrical ground where lightning could also discharge.

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[djv1]

I have a question, how exactly does lightening find the shortest path to ground??

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[Antony]

I have a question, how exactly does lightening find the shortest path to ground??

Consider that a tree is taller than the ground. And a lightning around the area has higher chance to hit the tree than the ground (assuming you are outdoor).

A lightning rod works on the same principal, it "attracts" lightning. When lightening occurs (in the area), instead of hitting some other shorter buildings, the lightening rod would attract lightning to hit itself. Once hit, the energy would quickly discharged to the ground (earth), as lightning rod is a conductive material that conducts ground to the top of the building.

(That was from my memory from my undergraduate Physics.)

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[djv1]

ok i see where your coming from but why would it be more likely to hit someone with a ipod under a tree then someone with out one under a tree

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[Don_HH2K]

ok i see where your coming from but why would it be more likely to hit someone with a ipod under a tree then someone with out one under a tree

If I'm not mistaken, the idea is that the tree is a better conductor of lightning than air, so lightning would strike the tree (which is grounded) instead of directly striking the ground. The iPod's headphones have metallic cable in them, which is yet a better conductor, and at that, some of the excess energy would be able to discharge into the iPod's battery ground.

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