On but unplugged aluminum-body laptop in a storm: dangerous?

anemoneprose

indoors; lightning outside

onwarddownward

On a wireless phone in the house. Will the lightning jump through and get me?

anemoneprose

aaaargh the grumbling's like half a block away

neandermagnon

not sure if serious or joking

but if you are indoors the lightning can't hurt you unless you're holding onto the building's lightning conductor or something. My mum's next door neighbour's TV aerial was struck by lightning. They were all indoors at the time, as was my mum for that matter. They live on top of a hill. no-one was hurt, they just jumped from the loud bang. Lightning takes the shortest route, so a building is only going to be struck if it's taller than all the others or on the top of a hill (closer to the clouds in each case). If you don't have a lightning conductor, it can do a lot of damage to the roof of your building and may cause a fire. But if it's not the tallest building around you don't have to worry about that. If it has a lightning conductor, the lightning will strike that, not the building, and be earthed. This saves the building from damage. The conductor goes down the outside of the building. So to sum up, if you're indoors, you're safe from lightning. Even if you're in a car and the car's struck by lightning, the car's body acts as a conductor, the current goes through the car's bodywork and into the ground, leaving the people inside the car unharmed (though obviously they'll be pretty scared and the loud bang might burst an eardrum or two)

People who get struck by lightning are outdoors and the tallest thing around. Golf is particularly dangerous as a person swinging a golf club over their head could quite easily be the tallest thing around, plus the golf club is a conductor, it's like a lightning conductor for a person except that the current gets earthed through the person, so they get killed or very badly burned. Umbrellas also act like this. Don't walk on top of a hill holding an umbrella in a thunderstorm. Trees can be struck by lightning, and when they are they explode, so never shelter under a tree in a thunderstorm. The safest thing to do is get indoors, if that's impossible be in a valley rather than on a hill. If the land's flat then lie on the ground. I read somewhere that sticking your butt in the air is supposed to help as your legs can take an electric shock but your torso can't (due to your heart). But I think lying on the ground is probably sufficient to avoid being struck by lightning, but even that's probably overkill. Just don't go waving metal things like golf clubs or umbrellas over your head. And speaking as a short person, one of the great things about being short is if you're stuck out in a thunderstorm with a group of people, you're the least likely to be struck by lightning. :drinker:

Seriously, you're not going to be struck by lightning if you're at home

sarahthin

Who wants to tke chances.

seliinac

Recently a woman in Ottawa, ON was struck by lightning while washing dishes at her sink in front of a window. It was reported in a real newspaper not just on the internet. So if you're near a window, be careful...

anemoneprose

not sure if serious or joking

but if you are indoors the lightning can't hurt you unless you're holding onto the building's lightning conductor or something. My mum's next door neighbour's TV aerial was struck by lightning. They were all indoors at the time, as was my mum for that matter. They live on top of a hill. no-one was hurt, they just jumped from the loud bang. Lightning takes the shortest route, so a building is only going to be struck if it's taller than all the others or on the top of a hill (closer to the clouds in each case). If you don't have a lightning conductor, it can do a lot of damage to the roof of your building and may cause a fire. But if it's not the tallest building around you don't have to worry about that. If it has a lightning conductor, the lightning will strike that, not the building, and be earthed. This saves the building from damage. The conductor goes down the outside of the building. So to sum up, if you're indoors, you're safe from lightning. Even if you're in a car and the car's struck by lightning, the car's body acts as a conductor, the current goes through the car's bodywork and into the ground, leaving the people inside the car unharmed (though obviously they'll be pretty scared and the loud bang might burst an eardrum or two)

People who get struck by lightning are outdoors and the tallest thing around. Golf is particularly dangerous as a person swinging a golf club over their head could quite easily be the tallest thing around, plus the golf club is a conductor, it's like a lightning conductor for a person except that the current gets earthed through the person, so they get killed or very badly burned. Umbrellas also act like this. Don't walk on top of a hill holding an umbrella in a thunderstorm. Trees can be struck by lightning, and when they are they explode, so never shelter under a tree in a thunderstorm. The safest thing to do is get indoors, if that's impossible be in a valley rather than on a hill. If the land's flat then lie on the ground. I read somewhere that sticking your butt in the air is supposed to help as your legs can take an electric shock but your torso can't (due to your heart). But I think lying on the ground is probably sufficient to avoid being struck by lightning, but even that's probably overkill. Just don't go waving metal things like golf clubs or umbrellas over your head. And speaking as a short person, one of the great things about being short is if you're stuck out in a thunderstorm with a group of people, you're the least likely to be struck by lightning. :drinker:

Seriously, you're not going to be struck by lightning if you're at home

Lol! Thank you for taking the time to respond. I completely felt I knew most of your points as I read, nodding, "yes, of course" (except for the bolded, which I am going to do for totally different reasons, & rationalize exactly as outlined), but somehow, that knowledge slipped out through my brainstem when things got loud and scary. And some other thing took its place.

Ah you know where it was. I remembered to unplug to protect the laptop in case of a power surge (have actually had three of those in the past week! And lost a fan there). So I did that. And noticed my laptop was the right material for conduction, and conflated everything else.

Dishes? Showers?