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Your Health And Understanding Lightning

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Your Health And Understanding Lightning Todayshealthsite.com

Todays Health Article   

American Heart Month

February 8th, 2011   

It was not surprising, our heart can only take so much, and a bolt of lightning, maybe just too much for some of us. Lightning strikes are electrical discharges caused  typically during a thunderstorm. Many of  those struck by lightning have suddenly experience Heart Attacks after being struck by lightning.   

Lightning in Creation

Did you know that at any moment, there are as many as 1800 thunderstorms in progress somewhere on the Earth, and each is producing deadly lightning.   

When these  thunderstorms form, a large formation of  ice crystals in the upper cloud must be present  for the development of lightning. Strong  rising and sinking motions within these clouds enhance collisions among cloud particles, causing a separation of electrical charges. Now the positively charged ice crystals rise to the top, and  the negatively charged ice particles and hailstones drop to the middle and the lower parts of the storm. The charges continue to increase, positive charges rising up taller objects such as trees, houses, and telephone poles.   

You may have felt the charge  move up you, causing your hair to stand on end!  This is natures way… final way of warning you…  that lightning can strike very soon near you.   

The negatively charged area in the storm, sends out a charge toward the ground, called a step leader. This leaders is invisible to the human eye, moves in steps towards the ground, takes less than a second  to get close to the ground,  and it is attracted by all of the positively charged objects causing a channel to develop for the electrical transfer. This is what we  call lightning.  

Lightning sidekick  is…  Thunder!!!

Which typically occurs during thunderstorms. The lightning rapidly heats the air in its immediate vicinity to about 20,000 °C (36,000 °F) — about three times the temperature of the surface of the Sun. This sudden heating effect and the expansion of heated air, provides rise to a supersonic shock wave in the surrounding clear air. Now it is this shock wave, once it decays to an acoustic wave, that we hear as thunder. 

Lightning Facts…

  • Lightning may be found sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms
  • A leader of a bolt of lightning can travel at speeds of 220,000 km/h (140,000 mph), 
  • Lightning can occur with both positive and negative polarity. 
  • An average bolt of negative lightning carries an electric current of 30,000 amperes  — 30 “kiloamps” (kA). Large bolts of lightning can carry up to 120 kA and 350 coulombs 
  • An average bolt of positive lightning carries an electric current of about 300 kA — about 10 times that of negative lightning. 
  • The average peakpower output of a single lightning stroke is about one trillion watts — one “terawatt” (1012 W), and the stroke lasts for about 30 millionths of a second 
  • Lightning can reach temperatures approaching 30,000 °C (54,000 °F), about 3 times the temperature of the Sun.  
  • Hot enough to fuse silica sand into glass channels known as fulgurites which are normally hollow and can extend some distance into the ground. 
  • There are some 16 million lightning storms in the world every year.
  • Lightning can  be caused by violent forest fires which generate sufficient dust to create a static charge 

 

Incidence of Strikes…

It is estimated that 24,000 people lose their lives to lightning strikes around the world each year and about 240,000 are injured. In the U.S., between 9 and 10% of those struck die,  for an average of 40 to 50 deaths per year. In the United States, which may surprise you, it is the #2 weather killer, second only to floods. The odds of an average person living in the U.S. being struck by lightning in a given year is 1/500,000. However, a U.S. National Park Ranger Roy Sullivan has the record for being struck by lightning the most times. Sullivan was struck seven times during his 35 year career. He lost the nail on one of his big toes, and suffered multiple injuries to the rest of his body. 

 Human Injury   

Lightning strikes injure humans in several different ways:   

  • Direct strike, which is usually fatal.
  • Contact injury, when the person was touching an object that was struck
  • Side splash, when current jumped from a nearby object to the victim
  • Ground strike, current passing from a strike through the ground into a nearby victim. A strike can cause a difference of potential in the ground (due to resistance to current in the Earth), amounting to several thousand volts per foot.
  • Blast injuries, either hearing damage or blunt trauma by being thrown to the ground.

Lightning Injuries 

Author: Mary Ann Cooper, MD,, Professor Emerita, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago

Physical

Physical presentation may vary from mild disorientation with noimmediate physical signs to cardiac arrest (the only direct cause of death) and anoxic brain injury.

  • Cardiorespiratory symptoms
    • Cardiorespiratory Arrestis the only known direct cause of death but is still uncommon. Lightning acts as massive defibrillation, sending the heart into momentary asystole, from which the heart often spontaneously recovers. Autonomic nervous system control of cardiac rhythm has been shown to be affected by lightning. In addition, for unknown reasons, respiratory arrest usually lasts longer than the initial cardiac arrest; thus, a secondary cardiac arrest from hypoxia, from more serious brain injury prolonging the respiratory arrest, or from other unknown causes may occur.
    • Many changes may be observed on the ECG, but the most commonly reported is QT prolongation, which generally resolves over several months and does not commonly require treatment. The indicated treatment depends on the resulting abnormality.
  • Neurological symptoms
    • Patients who are awake are usually able to carry on reasonably appropriate social conversation. However, they may develop disabling neurocognitive deficitssimilar to those of people with blunt head injury, which may not be apparent until survivors attempt to return to their previous work and are unable to process new information, organize their activities, and multitask.
    • Acute pain, numbness, or other dysesthesias may be reported. Chronic pain syndromes may develop from lightning injuries and may be due to nerve injury, sympathetic nervous system injury, spinal column injury, or other causes.
    • Sympathetic nervous system injury may cause vascular spasm; temporary paralysis and mottling of an extremity (keraunoparalysis); transient hypertension, which usually does not need treatment; and late problems with positive tilt test results, vertigo or dizziness, tinnitus, hypertension, and pain syndromes.
    • If the patient is unconscious, suspect and investigate anoxic brain injury or underlying brain injury.
  • Dermatologic symptoms
    • Deep burns: Because lightning usually has extremely brief contact with the skin, deep burns are rare. If burns occur, treat them like any other high-voltage injury, including investigating for myoglobinuria.
    • Superficial burns: Burns may appear linear (often secondary to vaporized sweat or rainwater), punctuate, or in pathognomonic fern like patterns.Burns may also be secondary to heating metal, such as necklaces, coins in the pocket, or cleats on the bottom of athletic shoes.
  • Blunt injury
    • Consider concomitant myoglobinuria if blunt injury is present.
    • Fractures are uncommon and occur more rarely in lightning injuries than in high-voltage injuries. Being thrown tens of yards because of intense muscle contraction is frequently reported. If the patient has a history of a fall or being thrown a distance, investigate for fractures and blunt injuries.
    • Organ contusions, pulmonary hemorrhage, and cardiac contusions have been reported but are rare.
    • The ear is the sensory organ most commonly injured by lightning. Tympanicmembrane rupture is common and may occur from concussive or explosive force, direct current entry (often associated with burns to the canal or disruption of the ossicles), or from basilarskullfracture. Hearing loss, tinnitus, and other eighth nerve symptoms including dizziness and unsteadiness are common.
    • Nearly every type of eye injury has been reported with lightning injury, including cataracts, macular holes, retinal separation, and iritis. Cataracts may be a late sequela of lightning injury, as are chronic pain syndromes, sleep disturbance, and severe headaches
    • http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/770642-overview

Lightning Safety

 The rule the National Weather Service recommends… to follow  the “30/30″ rule. When lightning is seen  by you count the time until thunder is heard. If  it is 30 seconds or less,  you should seek shelter immediately and stay there for at least 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder is heard.

Whats typical, is people go out and resume activity too quickly and end up getting hit. Also covered picnic shelters, tents, and convertibles even with the roof up are not safe.

The shelter you seek should be a substantial building such as a home or inside a car with a metal roof. ( make sure windows are closed)

Out door Safety

If no shelter is available  make yourself as small a target as possible, crouch down and put your feet together. Place hands over your ears. Avoid other people.( 15 feet in distance should be maintained)

Never stand near tall trees, metal fences, or water, or metal objects or power lines.

Avoid water, high ground and open space.

Stop operating machinery, motors and power tools.

Safety Indoors

Some safety tips you may take while inside are:

  • Stay away from doors and windows.
  • Do not use the telephone.
  • Take off head sets.
  • Turn off, unplug, and stay away from appliances, computers, power tools, & TV sets.

 Lightning may strike exterior electric and phone lines, inducing shocks to inside equipment.

INJURED PERSONS

 Lightning struck, do not carry an electrical charge and can be handled safely.   Call 911 or send for help immediately. If  QUALIFIED  Apply First Aid procedures to a  the lightning victim.

 Todays Health Comments

Today many are intrigued or oowing at the magnificent light show that lightning does bring. Withthe number of thunderstorms happening at this moment, aproximately1800 as we speak, we do need to take them, perhaps a little seriously. With all the electrical gadgetry strapped to our bodies and plugged into our ears, the afternoon jog may be reconsidered with that thunderstorm in the forecast. Yet before this article was written, unaware that this light show was responsible for more fatalities than hurricanes, tornadoes,and all other nature cause deaths, other than floods. Todays Health asks you to become familiar with these safety tips and become acquainted for emergency action.

February 9th, 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , | Category: Todays Health | 944 comments

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