DOES LIGHTNING STRIKES THE SAME PLACE TWICE?
Nowadays, we can hear death cases caused by lightning. Many argue as to what is the cause of lightning strike. But do we really understand how lightning is form? What triggers it to strike a place? Does lightning strikes the same place twice? And what are the following precautionary measures we need to do to avoid it?
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| Jove,(a.k.a. Jupiter) the Roman king of gods. |
Many of us believe in the saying that lightning was sent by God as a punishment to the wrongdoers. Some says St. Peter is just playing bowling and whenever he gets a perfect strike, lightning and thunder occurs. Others believe in the myth that Jove, the Roman king of gods, send his favorite bird and was said to carry his thunderbolt of wrath. But the truth is, none of the mentioned stories gives us the true and definite fact about lightning.
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| lightning strikes the Statue of Liberty in New York harbour |
Lightning is a big charge of electricity that can reach from clouds to the ground or to other clouds. It can start fires and it is strong enough to hurt or kill people. It is usually triggered by a build-up of different charges within a cloud. When negative (-) charges fills the bottom of the cloud, it send out a "leader" which looks/seeks for a positive (+) charge. As it approaches an area which surely is positively charged, it streamer emerges, meeting the "leader", sealing the connection and generating a bolt of lightning followed by a thunderclap.
Lightning is said to be most common around the equatorial regions of the world such as Rwanda, Africa which was called "lightning capital of the world". This is due to its intense thunderstorm experiences during the months of February - May and September - December.
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| Empire State Building of New York |
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| Former Park Ranger Roy "Dooms" Sullivan |
One thing that bother us is that lightning seems to strike objects more than any other. One valid example is the Empire State Building in US which is said to be the favorite spot of lightning. You want to know why? The explanation is simple. The taller an object is, the higher the possibility of lightning to strike on it. This is due to the said "leader" is searching for the nearest elevated ground. That is why any tall objects even people can be prone to lightning strike. In fact, a Guinness Book of World Records has recorded Former Park Ranger Roy "Dooms" Sullivan as the world's most lightning-struck person. It was said that from 1942 - 1983, Roy was struck by lightning seven (7) times already.
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| lightning rod |
Lightning is a strong power to reckon with. Just because an object is hit once does not make it safe from being struck again. So be extra cautious to avoid being struck by lightning.
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