File this one under "things you know that just aren't so," right next to "humans only use 10% of their brains" and "science says bumblebees can't fly:"
Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
The fact is, lightning doesn't have a memory. Thunderheads don't keep a record of where they've sent lightning bolts before, and in many [...]
If you're a dedicated storm chaser, or even a person who's interested in lightning, you probably know that there are three kinds of lightning: cloud-to-cloud, cloud-to-ground, and in-cloud lightning. Three states of matter, three kinds of lightning, three dimensions, three stooges, three strikes and you're out, everything comes in three, right?
Well, no.
Leaving aside for the [...]
If you know anything about lightning, you probably know that you're safe from lightning inside a car–at least as long as you aren't touching anything metal.
A lot of people believe that the car's rubber tires act as an insulator, and that this is the reason a car is safe during a lightning storm. This is [...]
There are a number of different approaches used in lightning warning systems. Most lightning safety systems fall into one of two broad categories: lightning prediction and lightning detection.
Lightning Prediction
The older technique, lightning prediction, attempts to anticipate lightning strokes by using an antenna designed to sense sudden collapse in electrical field density in an area. This [...]
If you fly commercially often, the odds are that sooner or later you'll be in a plane that gets hit by lightning in the air. Boeing claims that passenger aircraft are struck by lightning, on average, about twice a year.
Sounds scary, but normally it's not a big deal. Most aircraft are made of aluminum, and [...]
Detecting lightning remotely is easy. A lightning stroke produces a characteristic electromagnetic signal that's simple to pick up; there are plans on the Internet for simple homebrew lightning detectors.
But determining distance to a lightning stroke is a little more tricky.
Lower Strength (10kA or less) lighting events are more frequently statistically. However, since this includes the [...]