On Jul 7, 10:21*pm, "Calvin Sambrook" wrote:
Following on from the recent discussion of lightning strikes what is the
expert opinion here of what to do when a storm arrives and you're swimming?

The instant reaction of almost everyone today was to get out of the water
but I have a nagging doubt. *In the water I was not going to provide a
preferential path to earth, although a strike would have caused the
potential of the whole lake to rise surely I would have simply floated with
it.
Out of the water I was standing on the bank soaking wet and probably more of
a target for a strike, a few mm of wet neoprene certainly wasn't going to
protect me.

So what have I missed?

A strike in water is almost bound to be fatal, the voltage developed
across the water will be high. Same thing happens on a far smaller
scale when a heater is dropped in a bath.

If there really is nothing higher than the water around, youre in
trouble either way: stay in and get fried, or get out and become the
tallest object in the area.


NT