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Lethal lightning

How does lightning kill?  How does it injure people?

About 10 percent of people struck by lightning actually die.  In the USA, this amounts to about 60 people (30-year average) a year; in Canada, about 10 people per year.  So, we estimate lightning injures about 600 people in the USA and 100 in Canada each year.

Lightning delivers a massive pulse of electricity.  It can kill or injure a nearby person, either by striking her directly, causing gigantic currents to surge through the body, or...  Click to continue Lethal Lightning  /  Comment

1. Why do hurricanes spin counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere (and clockwise in the Southern)? A hurricane is a system of violent thunderstorms with high winds — circulating about a central low-pressure area, called the eye. Air pressure flows from higher pressure towards lower pressure, although not directly so.  Instead, it spirals inwards.  Although a hurricane is a fearfully complex phenomenon, why it spins in the direction it does is comparatively simple...

• How does lightning kill?  How does it injure people?
   
• What would happen if a lightning bolt hits a tornado?
   
• What causes rainbows after it stops raining?
   
• When I was flying through clouds today, our plane's shadow in the clouds below had a circular rainbow tightly around it. Why is that?
   
• Why do hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere spin counterclockwise?
   
• If lightning strikes the ocean, do the marine animals get hurt or killed?
   
• Why do jets leave white streaks in the sky?
   
• Why does the sky appear clear after it rains?
   
• Does lightning strike the top of Mt. Everest?
   
• Where in the world do the most lightning strikes occur? What position is South Africa in the list?
   
• When I was flying through clouds today, our plane's shadow in the clouds below had a circular rainbow tightly around it. It wasn't just from one angle, and it was there for many miles. Why is that?
  
  
   

2. Where in the world do the most lightning strikes occur?
    
3. What is the coldest place on Earth?
    
4. Indoor pools:  Does lightning strike indoor swimming pools? Has anyone ever been hurt or killed?
    
5. Why do jets leave white streaks in the sky? Do giraffes get struck by lightning?
    
6. How wide & long:  My kids were wondering how wide and long lighting can be.
    
7. While looking out of an airplane window, I often see a circle of colors with the shadow of the airplane at its center. What is it?
    
8. What causes a rainbow?
    
9. If the ambient temperature is 35° F with a wind chill factor of 25° F, will water freeze?
    
10. Why is some ice blue?

More questions about weather >>

How to Offer Wild Birds Shelter in the Winter

Not all birds migrate south for the winter.  Winter is a hard season for birds, and many risk freezing to death at night. It doesn't take much effort or money to provide shelter for them, and it can make a huge difference to the little feathered guys!

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• How to Offer Wild Birds Shelter in the Winter
• The Best Way to Offer Water to Wild Birds
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• Gardening for Kids
• How to tell Male Turtles from Female Turtles
• Is a Box Turtle the Right Pet For You?
• Which Turtle Makes a Better Pet - A Male or a Female?
• Yarrow, a Battlefield Herb

Apocalypse,  A Natural History of Global Disasters by Bill McGuire.  Bill McGuire, who's acquired the nickname "Disaster Man", is here to tell you all about what could end mankind's existence on earth tomorrow. Taking a distinctly British "stiff upper lip" attitude, he goes into four different scenarios: mega-volcanic eruption, giant tsunami, killer earthquake, and earth-killing ...

 More Reviews >>

• Five Ages of the Universe
• Krakatoa

Upgrade your system  On January 30th, Microsoft released the most eagerly anticipated operating system in history, Windows Vista. Many will attempt to update their old systems to run the new operating system.  Here are Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 in a series to show you how I upgraded my system, using Windows XP Home Service Pack 2, to run the new operating system, including new...

Also of interest:

• Game Reviews:
• Sin Episodes: Emergence
• The Operational Art Of War
• Scripts: Formatting the directory output listing from Windows
• Using awk to generate a Javascript menu

   

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