Seven people were killed by lightning while digging for Cordyceps sinensis. Was it an accident? How to avoid being struck by lightning?

In ancient times, lightning was an unknown phenomenon that people feared. Legend has it that if you did something bad, you would be struck by lightning. Nowadays, some rural areas still teach children to be good people, otherwise they will be struck by lightning.

Just a few days ago, on May 28, seven villagers from Derongma Township, Shiqu County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, were struck by lightning while going up the mountain to collect Cordyceps sinensis. No one survived. The victims were three men and four women, the oldest was only 30 years old, and the youngest was carried on the back of her mother. Media reports said that these people were taking shelter from the rain when they were struck by lightning, and the specific process of the accident is still under investigation.

So, according to ancient sayings, aren't these people all good people? It is said that a family decided not to go up the mountain due to something, and an adult and a child escaped a disaster. These two people must have done good deeds in their past lives? In fact, this saying is groundless.

Being struck by lightning is both accidental and inevitable. It contains natural laws and scientific principles. Let us learn about it together today.

First, let’s understand why thunder strikes.

Thunder is a natural discharge phenomenon. All matter in our world is made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of nuclei and electrons. When atoms are excited by energy, electrons will jump, and some electrons will leave the nuclei and float away, while some nuclei will temporarily hold on to excess electrons. In this way, the matter that loses electrons and gains excess electrons becomes charged ions.

In thunderstorms, air convection is very strong, clouds surge and rub up and down, left and right, and the electrons in the atoms that make up the clouds are excited to jump and drift. Some cloud atoms lose electrons and become positively charged ions; some cloud atoms gain extra electrons and become negatively charged ions. However, atoms themselves are neutral, and only neutral substances are stable, so this phenomenon can only be temporary. As long as there is a chance, the positive and negative ions in the clouds will be neutralized.

Convective weather usually has upper clouds with positive charge and lower clouds with negative charge. Due to charge induction, clouds close to the ground will make the ground positively charged. Of course, there are some more complex charge distributions. These positive and negative ions contained in the clouds and the ground are extremely unstable, like the legendary chicken blood, always looking for a way to vent.

The process of catharsis is the neutralization process of positive ions and negative ions, and this process is the discharge phenomenon. When we touch the positive and negative poles of the wire together, due to the loose connection, arc sparks will occur, making a hissing sound. The sound of this small discharge is of course very small, but it is the essence of lightning and thunder.

The discharge in the cloud layer in nature is a large-scale and huge discharge phenomenon. The average current of lightning reaches more than 20,000 amperes, and some are as high as 300,000 amperes. The voltage reaches more than 10 billion volts, while the safe voltage that the human body can withstand is only 36 volts. When high-voltage and high-intensity lightning hits the human body, how can it not die?

This huge discharge process will form instantaneous high temperature and light, causing the air to expand and burst, which is the origin of lightning and rumbling or crackling thunder. There are many types of lightning, which I will not discuss in detail today.

Since the speed of light is about 30 kilometers per second and the speed of sound in the air is only about 340 meters per second, if lightning and thunder occur at a far distance, we will often see the lightning first and then hear the thunder. People who are afraid of thunder still have time to cover their ears.

Causes of being struck by lightning/

Since thunder is the discharge between clouds and between clouds and the ground, why are some people, animals, and even some objects struck by lightning?

As mentioned before, positively and negatively charged ions are very restless and feel uncomfortable, always wanting to be released. The process is the neutralization of positive and negative charges, and this neutralization process will be accompanied by the release of huge energy. However, to facilitate this energy release, there must be a medium between the positive and negative charges, that is, a conductor.

At this time, if someone unknowingly intervenes between the positive and negative ions and becomes a bridge for their mutual release, thus making them successful, he will be sacrificed.

The layers in the sky are connected by themselves when they fly up and down, so discharge will occur naturally without other conductors. There is a layer of air between the clouds and the earth. The air itself is not conductive, but it is difficult to find pure air in our world. There are dust impurities in it, so it naturally has a certain conductivity coefficient. In addition, it is wet on rainy days, so strong lightning can easily penetrate the air and reach the ground, forming a terrifying tree branch-shaped grounding lightning.

However, lightning needs a lot of energy to break through the air. If there are high-rise buildings or big trees as a medium, lightning can be released more easily. Therefore, on a thunderstorm day, high mountains or tall buildings and big trees are more likely to become the connection point between the clouds and the earth. This is also the reason why people are required to avoid going to high mountains or taking shelter under eaves or big trees during thunderstorms.

In an open field, a person standing can easily become a connection point for lightning.

The principle of a lightning rod is to make a very high and sharp metal and connect the tip to the buried metal mesh. Through the tip discharge principle, the negative charge on the ground and the positive charge in the cloud are slowly released and neutralized, thereby avoiding the instantaneous huge discharge phenomenon such as lightning strikes. However, there are strict technical requirements for the construction of lightning rods. If you build a high tower randomly, it will not only fail to avoid lightning, but also attract lightning strikes.

Finally, let’s talk about how to avoid lightning strikes.

Now that we know about lightning and the causes of lightning strikes, we can take various measures to avoid being struck by lightning.

First of all, generally speaking, thunderstorms are more common in summer and less common in winter. This is because there are more severe convective weather in spring and summer, and less severe convective weather in winter. Therefore, in the summer when thunderstorms are more frequent, especially in thunderstorms, try to stay out as little as possible, and avoid going to high mountain forests and open fields.

Second, when building or buying a house, you should take lightning protection measures: first, avoid areas where thunderstorms are frequent. Some places are often areas where lightning strikes frequently due to underground mineral resources or topography and geomagnetism. You can obtain this information by consulting local meteorological data; second, lightning protection measures should be in place. You should buy housing in a building with good lightning protection measures, and self-built houses should be designed and installed with effective lightning rods or lightning nets.

Third, although the lightning protection measures for power and telecommunications systems are much better than in the past, you should still try to avoid contact with electrical appliances at home during thunderstorms and close doors and windows in time; especially when severe thunderstorms occur, avoid turning on televisions and using mobile phones and other electrical equipment, turn off the power, and stay away from metal and other conductive facilities.

Fourth, if you encounter a thunderstorm outside, try to avoid taking shelter or staying under electric poles, eaves, big trees, or tall buildings. Do not stand on protruding places such as rooftops or mountain tops. If you are in the wilderness, try to hide in a low place or squat to avoid becoming a discharge point. Try to avoid metal and other conductive objects. Do not use metal-frame umbrellas or carry long objects in open areas. Do not make or answer phone calls.

Fifth, if you suddenly feel your hair standing up, your muscles tightening, and your skin tingling during a thunderstorm, it means that the place where you are standing is highly charged and may attract lightning strikes. At this time, you should lower your body as soon as possible, squat down with your feet together, or you may escape. Never run away in big steps, otherwise the step voltage will be formed, which is more likely to cause lightning strikes.

Here is an explanation of step voltage: when walking in an underground charged area, the potential difference is generated because the two feet are at different potentials. The larger the step, the greater the potential difference. This is why sometimes lightning kills cows but humans are fine, because cows have larger strides with their front and back limbs.

Of course, you will not be struck by lightning every time you encounter thunder in the wild. There is a probability. Due to many reasons, there is a certain degree of randomness in being struck by lightning. However, the probability of being struck by lightning is completely different between a person who pays attention to lightning protection and a person who does not respect science and sneers at lightning protection. This is the inevitability of being struck by lightning.

This is a bit like a person who obeys traffic rules and a person who doesn't. Neither of them will necessarily be hit by a car when crossing the road; but the probability of the latter being hit by a car will increase many times, which is inevitable.

Therefore, although it is a tragedy that seven compatriots in Ganzi, Sichuan were killed by lightning, the lesson must be learned to minimize the inevitable disaster. What do you think about this? Welcome to discuss, thank you for reading.

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