Lightning is an atmospheric electrical discharge (spark) accompanied by thunder, usually associated and produced by cumulonimbus clouds, but also occurring during volcanic eruptions, or in dust storms or even caused by violent forest fires which generate sufficient dust to create a static charge.
How lightning initially forms is still a matter of debate.
The irrational fear of lightning (and thunder) is called Astraphobia. The study or science of lightning is called Fulminology, and someone who studies lightning is referred to as a Fulminologist.
VERY STRANGE STORIES :
February 14, 2009
Muhammad Ponari (L), who locals believe possesses healing powers, dips his "magic stone" into a bottle of water.
MOHAMMAD Ponari was, until last month, a typical kid in the impoverished East Java village of Balongsari. Then, quite literally, lightning struck.
The nine-year-old, who had been playing in the rain in his front yard, was hit by the thunderbolt but, to the astonishment of his young friends, he was unharmed.
All the more bizarre, according to an account by his village chief and his family, when he came to, he found a stone the size of an egg on his head, and was convinced he possessed healing powers.
The Man Who Survived the Most Lightning Strikes:
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| ROY SULLIVAN |
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| THUNDER STORM |
1942, the clouds sent a direct bolt of lightning which hit Sullivan’s leg and exited through his toe, leaving behind a burned toenail.
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| ROY SULLIVAN |
Gold Crucifix and Chain Melted
Around His Neck
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| JASON CRAWFORD |
Jason Crawford, 31, was riding a
dirt bike in Gunnison County, Colorado when it started sprinkling lightly and a
lightning bolt struck him out of the blue. The strike caused him to do a back
flip off his bike and twist in the air before landing on the ground.
The strike melted a part of his
bike helmet, fractured his skull and left burn scars on his chest and arm. A
gold chain and crucifix he wore around his neck also melted, leaving the
pattern of a rope burned into his skin. According to doctors, if Crawford had
not been wearing the helmet, he probably would have died.
Struck by Lightning in Her Own Kitchen
Lightning struck Elizabeth Mena
while she was cooking in her Lebanon, Pennsylvania home. She was standing near
the back door when the lightning came through the door, throwing her against
the stove.
An ambulance was called, but her
injuries were not serious enough to need hospital treatment.
"I'm not going in my kitchen
for a while," Mena said.
Teen Talking on a Cell Phone
A 15-year-old girl was talking on
a cell phone in a London park during a storm when lightning struck her. The
girl has no memory of the incident, but she had a cardiac arrest and required
resuscitation. A year later, the girl must use a wheelchair and has severe
physical difficulties, brain damage and emotional and cognitive problems. She
also has a burst eardrum in the ear where she was holding the phone, along with
hearing loss.
According to researchers in the
British Medical Journal, the metal in a cell phone causes the lightning current
to go into the body, causing even more severe injuries.
Inch Exit Wound on Right Foot
Two teens, Zach O'Neal, 15, and
Ernie Elbert, 16, were struck by lightning while hiking in southern Colorado.
The bolt entered O'Neal near his right eye with enough force to blow his shoes
10 feet away. Some of the current exited through his head, but most of it went
out of his feet, causing a 2.5-inch exit wound on his right foot. He also
suffered a ruptured eardrum.
Elbert, who initially couldn't
feel his legs after the strike, was able to perform CPR on his friend. The
strike was strong enough to also shred their clothing and cause surface burns.
Realized He Was Struck Five Hours Later
Alistair Fellows, 43, from the
UK, was struck by lightning after he got out of his van during a storm -- but
he didn't realize it until hours later. Fellows didn't feel anything at the
time, but his arm swelled up five hours later, and his wife noticed a mark on
his arm. He also had slight problems with his hearing and sight.
"There was a flash, and the
thunder and lightning came at the same time. I didn't realize anything had
happened until a bit later on," Fellows said.
Airbus A380 Struck By Lightning While Landing In London
Lichtenberg Figures
Lichtenberg figures (Lichtenberg-Figuren, or "Lichtenberg Dust Figures") are branching electric discharges that sometimes appear on the surface or the interior of insulating materials or even as scar in people that were struck by lightning. They are named after the German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who originally discovered and studied them.
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| Georg Christoph Lichtenberg |
When they were first discovered, it was thought that their characteristic shapes might help to reveal the nature of positive and negative electric “fluids”.
In 1777, Lichtenberg built a large electrophorus to generate high voltage static electricity through induction. After discharging a high voltage point to the surface of an insulator, he recorded the resulting radial patterns in fixed dust.
By then pressing blank sheets of paper onto these patterns, Lichtenberg was able to transfer and record these images, thereby discovering the basic principle of modern Xerography.
This discovery was also the forerunner of modern day plasma physics.
Although Lichtenberg only studied 2-dimensional (2D) figures, modern high voltage researchers study 2D and 3D figures (electrical trees) on, and within, insulating materials There is a video at the end of this post that shows a Lichtenberg figure being created.
Below will find a small gallery of people who were struck by lightning and the fractal pattern it left behind.
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| GREEK GOD ZEUS |
The Aztecs portrayed lightning as a supernatural power of the god Tlaloc, visualized as his axe. In mythology, Tlaloc was the bringer not only of beneficial rain but of storms, killer lightning bolts, flood, and disease
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| AZTEC GOD TLALOC |
Pērkons/Perkūnas is the common Baltic god of thunder, one of the most important deities in the Baltic pantheon. In both Latvian and Lithuanian mythology, he is documented as the god of thunder, rain, mountains, oak trees and the sky.
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| NORDIC GOD THOR |
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| HINDU GOD INDRA |
THIS POST IS NOT OVER....
