wrote in message ...
On 7 Jul,
"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?

I was swimming in a lake last week as a thunderstorm approached. I got out
well before it arrived.

Water does not have zero resistivity. If there is a strike on the water a
potential difference will appear across you in the water. This will most
likely be enough to pass more than 30ma through your body. This is highly
likely to be fatal.

Best place either in a car, or curled up in a ditch out of the water.


Thanks for that, I knew I'd missed something. It does raise the question of
why fish aren't affected though.