What Happens When You're Struck By Lightning?

hey Brainard what you read ah biography of Benjamin Franklin good stuff trying to impress your date with all your newfound knowledge good call have you gotten to the part where he discovered electricity well spoiler alert the infamous discovery only required him to be struck by lightning now you must be wondering when Benjamin Franklin tied a key to a kite flew it into a lightning storm and became the strongest power generator on earth how did he survive if a single lightning bolt really does contain 1 billion volts of electricity there's no way he actually survived or walked away without injury right can you survive despite being struck by one billion volts like good old Franklin but before we shock you with the answer get it let's break down the slight but important difference between electrocution and shock when you get a slight vibration from touching a doorknob there's a quick movement of electrons which is characterized as a very mild shock this is very different from an electrocution even if it were more grave the main difference between an electrocution and a shock is a matter of life and death as electrocution means that a person has died as a result of electricity most commonly accidental contact from exposed electrical sources like wires or downed power lines by contrast a shock involves harm that does not result in death some common ways in which people are shocked include faulty appliances contact with damage to frayed cords electrical appliances coming in contact with water and even lightning strikes but that doesn't mean that an electrical shock is nothing to worry about I mean you don't need us to remind you Brainard how dangerous a lightning strike is make no mistake electrical shocks aren't the minor leagues victims frequently suffer severe and even life-altering injuries including but not limited to burns cardiac arrest or heart attack brain damage memory loss seizures or spine injuries but enough talk of all these small-time shocks it's time to play in the major leagues Brainard so what happens if you're struck by lightning and it's 1 billion volts of electricity it's important to acknowledge that the odds of being struck by lightning and subsequently dying is 1 in 161,000 but for those who somehow beat the odds 90% of people who are struck by lightning survive this means that only 10% of the struck by lightning pass away as soon as they are struck the remaining percentage are most likely to suffer serious and permanent injuries National Geographic reported that between 1959 and 2003 yep there hasn't been a more recent survey of this thirty six hundred and ninety-six deaths were reported in the United States in other words they're around eighty four people every year who see lightning before it's lights out so in the large scheme of things death by lightning isn't something you're most likely gonna see in your lifetime Brainerd but don't get too comfortable a lot can happen in the three milliseconds it takes for a lightning bolt to course through your body about 100 lightning bolts strike on Earth's surface every second if each bolt contains up to 1 billion volts of electricity that's 100 billion volts of electricity hitting our earth not to mention according to National Geographic these bad boys travel from the bottom of a storm cloud towards the earth at about 300,000 kilometers per hour from 150 feet above now those are some impressive stats mother nature another reason you may not want to be struck by lightning as it's completely hot temperatures a flash can heat up the air around it to temperatures hotter than the sun's surface this is one of the reasons why forest fires are a common result of lightning storms especially if the greenery is dry as for how lightning is formed the short story all comes down to particles and positive or negative charges when ice particles bump together inside of a cloud this causes an excess of negative charge collecting at the bottom of the cloud this charge would be so powerful that it repels negatively charged particles and causes the ground below it to become positively charged as an insanely strong electrical field rolls in the cloud there's an intense connection between the cloud and the ground imagine a magnet one end is positively charged while the other is negative and they can't help but be drawn to each other when the lightning hits the ground it causes a trail of plasma that lights the sky with these infamous telltale zigzags a bluish-white light that we know as lightning objects on the ground close to where lightning strikes like steeples trees and the earth itself become positively charged which creates an imbalance that nature seeks to remedy passing currents between two charges this is all to say that saying opposites attract also goes from other nature only with her the connection is electric here's what would happen if you were to get struck by lightning according to science as your Adrenaline's seeking self gets struck by lightning it will immediately exit your body as soon as you're hit leaving with deep wounds and third-degree burns not pretty your hair and clothes are also likely to catch on fire so you can dismiss any chance of making it to the men's health front cover and even if your clothes don't immediately catch on fire the surrounding air is meant to reach temperatures of 50 thousand degrees Fahrenheit which is five times hotter than the surface of the Sun if you happen to be wearing any metal objects yeah we're looking at the edgy piercing you got up after you broke up with your ex they could channel the electrical current and superheat your skin note if you didn't think that was enough another common effect of a lightning strike are branch or root like scars referred to as Lichtenberg figures these scars are quite literally the result of electricity passing through your body and bursting blood vessels on its way out but these are all injuries related to lightning strikes aside from the extraordinary number of volts traveling through your body what exactly causes 2,000 people according to National Geographic to die worldwide by lightning as you can imagine when lightning runs through your body the electrical currents can affect the rhythm of your heart as a result cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in lightning strike victims now that we know all the worst possible things that can happen to someone who's struck by lightning you may be asking yourself at this point how the heck did Ben Franklin or anyone for that matter survive in the first place well in good old Frankie's case the key to his survival was the Leyden jar which stored the electricity via a key attached to a kite string many people assume that this infamous historical figure was holding the other end of a kite which would have most definitely led to some serious injuries but because the jar was storing the electrical power Ben Franklin lived to see another day another case of a human being struck by lightning is told by a neuroscientist out of the University of Miami he wrote about an incident in which an orthopedic surgeon was struck and suddenly developed the urge to play piano mysteriously and quite amazingly he began to compose music he was hearing in his head a few months after the incident the surgeon abandoned his became a full-time classical musician who'da thought and there's the story of james church who lost two fingers on a fishing trip a sudden bolt struck church who was holding his fishing rod he reports a deafening boom and a flash so bright that he felt his eyes burn after waking up against a metal railing six feet away he realized that his ring and pinky finger were completely fried luckily for him all he lost her a few appendages the lightning missed his heart which ensured his survival it shouldn't surprise you that when Church talked to the New York Times he said that storms easily spook him these days so to answer your question Brainerd can you survive being struck by 1 billion volts the short answer is yes however there are many factors including chance when evaluating your survival rate if you ask us we would suggest - not to fly a kite or fish in the middle of a thunderstorm just to stay safe after all we want you to live and actually see your date don't we bran iord but if you do get tangled up in a thunderstorm here are a few tips on how to stay safe first location location location is important to consider in 2018 Florida and Tennessee had the most deaths related to lightning why and western half of the peninsula there are over 80 days of thunder and lightning on a typical year these states receive plenty of sunlight throughout the year which means that the air near the ground is often very warm that factor with moisture from clouds and rain and lifts from cold fronts or sea breeze creates the perfect conditions for thunderstorms if over the course of a thunderstorm you find yourself outdoors first things first it's important to find a safe enclosed shelter the 30-30 rule would also be important in this time and it goes like this after you see lightning start counting with 30 if you hear thunder before you reach 30 go indoors immediately this means the storm is nearby if there's no shelter available crouch low with as little of your body touching the ground as possible lightning causes electrical currents along the top of the ground that can be deadly even from a hundred feet away it's also important to stay away from concrete walls or floors if you're smart Brainard you wouldn't find yourself outdoors in a thunderstorm period if you could help it so here are some things to consider when you're inside during a storm first if you're thinking of hiding out in a pool house think again avoid water during thunderstorms as lightning can still travel through water even plumbing also avoid all electrical equipment such as radios TVs and other electrical systems another thing to consider is to stay away from concrete floors and walls so you're safe and sound Brainard but what happens if you run into someone who's a victim of an electrical shock well first things first let's get this guy a lottery ticket because the odds of getting struck by lightning is just short of winning some big bucks but jokes aside it's important that you don't touch the victim right away if they were struck by an electrical current from an appliance disconnect the power supply immediately watch for water around you as it conducts electricity when it comes to first aid check for a person's breathing it may be necessary to commence CPR immediately if they aren't then immediately call an ambulance if their breathing is steady and the victim is responding cool there burns with cold running water for 20 minutes and cover with dressings simple cling wrap found in most kitchens is very suitable as long as it isn't applied too tightly and don't even think about applying ointment sore oils into the burns it'll hurt first but we should really leave this to the medical professionals now you know how to save a life and you did it successfully Wow Brainard maybe you should buy a lottery ticket too because the odds of you doing this correctly and in the right way is in itself a stroke of luck so that date you were talking about earlier Brainard are you ready for it finish the book and feel free to wow them with your newfound knowledge of Benjamin Franklin and lightning strikes just you know then talk about it too long what you can talk about though is all the other videos you're featured in go on brag a little you're kind of a celebrity and that's pretty cool if you ask me good luck Brainard until next time [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Brainiac

Views: 127,009

Rating: 4.9020281 out of 5

Keywords: Brainiard of Brainiac, 1 billion volts, lightning strike, thunderstorm, struck by lightning, Benjamin Franklin, electrocution, electricity, science of lightning, how to survive a lightning strike, how to survive, can you survive being struck by lightning, how many volts are in a lightning bolt?, lightning bolt

Id: -3SMt6ND9nM

Length: 10min 18sec (618 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 24 2020