Lightning!

By Kathleen Gaskell onJuly 07, 2016

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Lightning strikes thousands of people every year. Those struck directly by lightning usually die. Take this quiz and use what you learn from it to help avoid becoming one of lightning’s unfortunate victims. Answers are below.

1. Should you touch someone who has been struck by lightning?
A. No. The electricity from the lightning could pass through the victim and shock you.
B. No. The natural biological electricity in your body could make their injury worse.
C. Yes. In fact, CPR might help.
D. Yes. The natural biological electricity in your body could reverse the damage.

2. True or false? Lightning never strikes the same place twice, therefore, it is safe to take refuge under a tree that has already been struck.
A. This is true, so look for a safe tree to hide under at the onset of any storm.
B. This is false. In fact, the Empire State Building in New York is typically struck at least 100 times a year.
C. Not only is this false, but hiding under any tree is the second leading cause of lightning deaths.
D. Both B & C.

3. Are you safe from lightning if there are no clouds and/or it is not raining?
A. Yes. Both must present for lightning to strike.
B. Yes & No. You are safe if it is cloudy. You are not safe if it is raining.
C. No. Lightning can strike 10–15 miles away from a thunderstorm.

4. You are in an open field and there is no safe shelter nearby when a storm breaks out. Is it safer to lie flat on the ground or keep running for some form of cover?
A. Lie flat. Plus if you do get hit, it spreads the effect of the shock,over your entire body instead of concentrating it in one area.
B. Lie flat, lightning usually targets the highest object on the ground.
C. Run. Lying down means you might get shocked or killed by a radial ground currents created by a lightning strike nearby.
D. Run. It will increase your adrenaline, which will offset the effect of a strike.

5. Does being near water — pool, river or bay — increase or decrease your risk of being struck by lightning?

6. If you are in an auto during a storm, will the rubber tires protect you from lightning by insulating you from the ground?
A. Yes.
B. No. The tires are actually a lightning magnet.
C. No. The metal roof and sides of the auto protect you because the lightning runs through the cars frame to the ground. Just don’t lean against a door during the storm.
D. No. In fact, vehicles with fiberglass shells, motorcycles, bicycles and convertibles will not protect you from lightning.
E. C & D

7. True or false? You are not totally safe in a house during a thunderstorm because anything that conducts electricity — telephones with cords, electrical appliances, wires, TV cables, computers, plumbing, metal doors and windows — could shock you if the house is struck by lightning.