What Would Happen if You Were Struck by Lightning?
Despite how terrifying lightning can be, your chances of dying are quite low. If you’re one of the unlucky 250,000 people that gets thunderstruck each year, you actually have a 97.5% chance of surviving. That’s pretty good!
Plus, the horrifying part is over quick. The entire lightning strike is done in 0.1 seconds, which is faster than the blink of an eye (0.33 seconds).
Lightning strikes can carry 10 million volts of energy. This is about 100 times more than a power line. They can also reach temperatures of 30,000 Kelvin, or five times hotter than the surface of the Sun.
Most of the time, people who are struck by lightning won’t even realize it for a few moments. It often just results in mild burns. But if it’s a bad strike, then it can cause brain hemorrhaging, strokes, and cardiac arrest.
Your brain loses the ability to communicate with your body. It stops sending blood and oxygen to your organs. You stop breathing. Unless you receive immediate medical attention, you could die.
The best way to avoid being struck by lightning is to stay indoors. If you’re outside and start seeing lightning, try to get inside a vehicle. If you’re in the car, and the car is struck by lightning, you’ll be fine.
Avoid standing under a tree. If a tree is hit by lightning it can flash boil the water in the tree trunk. The water turns to steam (which takes up more space) causing the tree to explode.
And that’s how you get a splinter.
