Can you survive a lightning strike?

golok · Jul 29, 2001

Recently, I read about a golfer who was struck by lightning and survived, and he's not the only one.

There have been reports that some people do survive direct strikes but unfortunately it has been bestowed mutant powers on them.

Most of time, the victims suffered various physical discomforts and other ailments.

However, I would like to know what's the scientific explanation for a person surviving a direct lightning strike? Considering that a bolt of lightning consists of many millions of volts, by right there should be nothing left of the human body except maybe a pair of burn-out shoes, or pants!

alco141 · Jul 29, 2001

it seems to depend on the path that the elctricity take on or through the body.

it may pass through the skin, into the muscles and emerge fro another part of the skin, damaging all the underlying tissue in between the entry and exit sites.

some people just have the current pass on the surface of the body, with singing of the skin, and clothes.

some people seem to have both with severe injury.

hope this helps,

alex

bloodnut · Jul 29, 2001

A doctor once said that the administration of CPR is vitally important to lightning strike victims and those that get it promptly have a surprisingly high survival rate. YMMV.

misque · Jul 29, 2001

According to the show I saw the other night, the majority of lightening strike victims, both direct and indirect strike victims survive the encounter.
One worst case scenario involves getting struck while the heart is re-polarizing itself. That little hump that appears after the heartbeat on your EKG readout is called the T-wave and that is when the heart is at it's most vulnerable. Getting struck at that time will cause the heart to stop beating basically, IIRC.
Another little tidbit from this show stated that often time the lightening upon striking the victim in the head, travels around the outside of the skull then enters the nearest available orifice, the ears, nose and/or mouth and travels down the torso and thru one or both legs seeking ground.
Since the body is comprised mostly of a saline(salty) solution, it conducts electricity very well. We are essentially the perfect medium for electricity to pass through, or "walking lightening rods" if you will.
This can be a real Bummer.

DanielL · Jul 30, 2001

I don't have any answers but how about a war story.

A friend was out fishing a few years ago and a storm came up suddenly. He was trolling in a cove and decided to get back to the dock. Just as he reached down and grabbed the key to start the motor, lightning struck a tree on the shore about 50 yards away. It zapped him thru the key hard enough to knock him down. Fortunately, he was not hurt. However, his trolling motor was fried.

fixer · Aug 3, 2001

Originally posted by golok
Recently, I read about a golfer who was struck by lightning and survived, and he's not the only one.

Lee Trevino has been hit 2 or 3 times.

you can survive, but i wouldn't reccomend it as a recreational activity... and the odds of survival are probably less than 50/50.

bruce · Aug 3, 2001

Lightning, as well as any other high voltage electrical discharge to your body, is, in addition to the electrical havoc done to your nervous system, a "crush" injury. This means that the electricity causes the innervation (nerves) of your muscles to fire, contracting all the muscles in your body, violently! Many of the aches and pains after a lightening strike are muscle fiber tears (similar to exercising past your capability) that take a few weeks to heal. Makes you feel like you've been beaten with a bag of nickles. Not fun!

Bruce Woodbury

bigcozy · Aug 3, 2001

A woman here locally was hit by lightning in her tent about three weeks ago. She survived but they said she had problems with her hearing and vision and probably always would. I wonder why lightning would hit a four foot high tent when there were trees all around it? Rescue workers said the tent was still smoking when they got there and they couldn't touch the zippers.

About five years ago a young guy was canoeing when a storm came up and while he was pulling the canoe out of the water he was struck and killed instantly. The bolt jumped out of him and hit someone else but didn't hurt them at all.

A war story: We had a small hunting cabin that burned down after lightning struck the tree next to it, ran down the roots, and exploded underneath the cabin. Burned it to the ground and it looked like a bomb crater underneath it.