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(no email)
Date: Tue Nov 01 2005 - 21:28:19 EST
OK most responders got it correct.
Here is the answer as published by the author, Todd Hubing.
Lightning is so powerful that a direct blow kills you regardless of what you
do. A full sized bolt delivers something on the order of 300 MegaJoules,
enough to boil 1000 kg of water, explode the trunk of an oak tree, or fuse
silica into solid glass. You will not survive a direct hit.
Your only options concern the "radius of survivability". If you improve
your ability to withstand near miss situations, you improve your ability to
survive.
Therefore assume that lightning strikes somewhere nearby but not directly on
your canoe. When it strikes, megajoules of energy pass through the water.
If your body is immersed in the water at that time, part of the lightning's
energy passes through on the way to its final destination. Because it takes
only a minute fraction of the bolt's total energy to kill you, the author
suggests that your best option is to remain seated in the canoe. The
passing current then diverts through the hull of your boat, not your body.
You may lose your hearing but not your life.
Inverting the boat provides no useful protection against large transient
currents flowing through the water. This scenario might work in a severe
hailstorm, but not against lightning.
Regards,
Andina Marie Foster,
----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: "TWL2:" <>; <>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 8:11 AM
Subject: lv-ab: Interesting lightning scenario quiz.
> Copied from one of my technical journals. I'll post the answer from the
> author in a couple of days.
>
> A menacing thunderstorm catches you out on the lake in an aluminum canoe.
> As you paddle briskly toward shore, sensing the catastrophic danger of a
> direct strike by lightning, you face THREE choices:
>
> 1, Remain seated in the canoe;
> 2. Abandon the canoe and swim for shore;
> 3. Invert the canoe and dive under it for protection, making a crude
Faraday
> cage.
>
> What is your choice?
>
> Regards,
>
> Andina Marie Foster,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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