Thunderbolts and Lightening very very frightening

[L CC]

So, can you get struck by lightening on a bike? Answers in the next 15 minutes please (eeep!)

[Wowbagger]

Me mama mia...

[Zoidburg]

Yes.

Ignore the safety tips - it's completely non linear in nature and will zap pretty much anything at random.

[mrcharly-YHT]

yes of course you can.

[Biggsy]

Don't think your rubber tyres will help.  The charge has gone through all that sky, so won't be stopped by a further inch of anything.

You're safer in a metal cage, like a car, as then the electricity goes around instead of through you.

[Greenbank]

Lightening? "a sense of decreased weight and abdominal tension felt by a pregnant woman on descent of the fetus into the pelvic cavity prior to labor "

Oh, lightning!

Lightning jumps many miles from cloud to ground. A 1" detour around a rubber tyre isn't going to stop it.

[Charlotte]

There's only one sure fire way to avoid being hit by lightning, you know...

[frankly frankie]

Lightning jumps many miles from cloud to ground.

From ground to cloud, surely.

[Zoidburg]

If you are in the area about to be struck a charged corona forms and begins to give of tiny streamers of plasma - the first streamer to reach high enough completes the circuit and the strike earths it self - through you.

This can happen in the blink of an eye, it can happen slowly enough to see and feel.

Lightning - tis weird.

[L CC]

Lightening? "a sense of decreased weight and abdominal tension felt by a pregnant woman on descent of the fetus into the pelvic cavity prior to labor "

Oh, lightning!

Lightning jumps many miles from cloud to ground. A 1" detour around a rubber tyre isn't going to stop it.

I'd've let you off your pedantry but for labor.

Puh-lease.

Anyways, it rhymes with frightening, must be lightening... 


We have no tin foils in teh kitchen here. Perhaps I could get the workshop boys to knock me a conductor up, sharpish?

[Rhys W]

Would I be safer on my carbon fibre frame or one of the steel ones?

[Oaky]

If you weave from side to side it upsets the Gods' aim.

[hairyhippy]

Just get your best friend to don copper armour, climb to the top of the highest point around, stand in a bucket of water and shout, "God's a b*st*rd." You'll be fine

[Chris S]

<ultra_geek_mode>
Lightning works its way down from a cloud in a series of steps (this all happens really really fast of course) and as it gets closer to the ground, positively charged "streamers" start to grow from objects - trees, steeples, the ground, a bush, cyclists - any random object. Eventually the bolt extending from the cloud will connect with one of these streamers and the discharge (main lightning bolt) takes place - often pulsing several times as charge from different areas of the cloud is released.
</ultra_geek_mode>

I once saw a photo captioned "The luckiest photographer alive" which was a tremendous photo of a lightning bolt hitting a nearby tree, but more importantly, a positive streamer growing out of a small bush right in front of the photographer  .

My uncle (RIP) was struck by lightning (it wasn't that that killed him). He said he knew he was going to be struck because all his hair stood on end and the fillings in his mouth suddenly produced a staggering pain in his teeth. Chances are, he was sensing the streamer before he was struck. He was really badly burned, but made a full recovery.

So - if your fillings start hurting, or your hair stands on end as you are riding home - I'd hit the deck if I were you.

[Zoidburg]

<ultra_geek_mode>
Lightning works its way down from a cloud in a series of steps (this all happens really really fast of course) and as it gets closer to the ground, positively charged "streamers" start to grow from objects - trees, steeples, the ground, a bush, cyclists - any random object. Eventually the bolt extending from the cloud will connect with one of these streamers and the discharge (main lightning bolt) takes place - often pulsing several times as charge from different areas of the cloud is released.
</ultra_geek_mode>

I once saw a photo captioned "The luckiest photographer alive" which was a tremendous photo of a lightning bolt hitting a nearby tree, but more importantly, a positive streamer growing out of a small bush right in front of the photographer  .

My uncle (RIP) was struck by lightning (it wasn't that that killed him). He said he knew he was going to be struck because all his hair stood on end and the fillings in his mouth suddenly produced a staggering pain in his teeth. Chances are, he was sensing the streamer before he was struck. He was really badly burned, but made a full recovery.

So - if your fillings start hurting, or your hair stands on end as you are riding home - I'd hit the deck if I were you.

Yeah thanks for repeating that one for me.

 

[Chris S]

Yeah thanks for repeating that one for me.

 

 

[Zoidburg]

Upthread.

 

[Chris S]

Upthread.

 

Ahh... I missed that one. My bad.

Mine contained an anecdote 

[fuzzy]

Upthread.

 

Ahh... I missed that one. My bad.

Mine contained an anecdote 

Data, surely

[rogerzilla]

Your best chance of survival may be if you're completely soaked before the lightning strikes, then less of the current will pass through important gubbins (medical term) and more will flow round your skin.  It's still going to hurt.

What you should do is get to lower ground and try not to be the tallest pointiest thing.  This may involve lying down, some distance from the bike.  However, many lightning victims aren't struck directly - a strike to the ground nearby can be just as bad.

[Cudzoziemiec]

My MiL was electrocuted when lightning struck a larch tree  next to the house. She had her hand on the kitchen tap at the time, current must have passed through the tree roots and the ground and along the pipe. She was not badly hurt, and the tree lived on, too, though with a nice zig-zag pattern burnt into its bark.

There, now we have a few anecdotes we can begin data collection. 

[mrcharly-YHT]

My wife's house (before I met her) was struck by lightning.

Blew the roof up into the air, vapourised electrical wiring, melted or split copper piping. Concussive blast in upper rooms shredded soft things like clothing.

[border-rider]

This may involve lying down

BAD idea.  Really bad.

However, many lightning victims aren't struck directly - a strike to the ground nearby can be just as bad.

Yep.  This mostly why cows die from lightning - the ground current sets up a hefty potential difference between the relevant pairs of legs and the current flow through their bodies electrocutes them.  That's why it's a bad idea to lie down; crouch down with your feet together. And only take off your shoes if you are a sprinter or a golfer

[RJ]

... footballer, ice-climber??  What about SPDs?

(assuming the problem is metal-to-ground contact?)

... tap-dancer? ...

[PaulF]

Too much knowledge on the subject may not be a good thing