Can i get hit by lighning if im holding a piece of aluminum?

Question

Can i get hit by lighning if im holding a piece of aluminum?

Answer 1

Why, yes, you can be,  you can be hit by lighning even if your not holding anything.

  "Wearing a rubber raincoat (substitute sneakers or other forms of clothing here) will decrease my chances of being hit." Conversely: "Wearing cleated shoes increases my chances of being struck."

    False, and probably false. The first is easy to dispel:  if lightning has burned its way through a mile or more of air (which is a superb insulator), it is hardly logical to believe that a few millimeters of any insulating material will be protective. The second is a subject of contention but I tend to believe that there would be little effect from whatever is on the bottom of your feet. Certainly metal on the bottom of the feet can heat up and cause secondary burns, but it is unlikely to "draw" lightning to the person.

  

    "I am safe in a car because the rubber tires protect me."

  

     True and False. True because there have been no documented lightning deaths that have occurred in a hard topped metal vehicle with the windows rolled up. However, the composite tires have little, if any, part in this, for the same reasons as those just discussed with regard to insulation. The safety has to do with the fact that electrical current travels along the outside of a conductor (the metal body of the car) and dissipates to the ground through paths that include the tires and the rainwater.

  

    "Wearing metal in my hair increases my chances of being hit. "

  

    Questionable, although opinions exist both ways. Hairpins (who uses those anymore?) may be safe; metal helmets may not. The issue needs more study (and more publication).  Kitigawa has shown fairly conclusively with dummies that metal about the head does not increase the likelihood of being hit (unless it projects far above the head, increasing the person's height).

  

    "Carrying an umbrella increases my risk of being hit. "

  

    True. Increasing your height by any amount increases your chances of being hit by a calculable amount, although a prospective, population-based, double-blind, randomized study has not been done to prove this, nor has the composition (metal versus composite or plastic) of the umbrella or one-iron been studied. Other dangerous things to avoid:  avoid being the highest object anywhere, be it a beach, small open boat, pier, meadow, or ridge. Avoid being under a lightning rod (except when inside a substantial habitable building that is protected) or standing near a metal fence, underground pipes, or other metallic paths that can transmit lightning energy from a nearby strike. Avoid swimming, because lightning energy can be transmitted through the water to you. Sailboats should be equipped with adequate lightning protection systems.

  

    "When outdoors, I should stay away from trees."

  

    Mostly true. Certainly you should stay away from the tallest trees, which are more likely to be hit and side-flash or splash to you. However, one would not want to become the tallest object in an area by standing in a meadow, either. Making the shortest, smallest target is probably the best answer if caught in the open. If you are in a forested area, it may be wise to pick an area of dense growth of saplings or smaller trees, rather than either a large meadow or tall trees. If on a ridge, get to a lower area.

    Seeking shelter in a substantial building when possible is advisable. The sheds on golf courses, unless adequately protected by a lightning mitigation system, are potentially more dangerous because they offer height but little protection and lightning may splash from a hit to the shelter onto the inhabitants.

"When lightning hits the ground nearby, it is 'grounded ' and I am safe. "

  

    Totally and absolutely FALSE. Despite the fact that we call the earth a "ground," it is very difficult to pump electricity into the ground. Most "earth" is a very good insulator.  When lightning hits the ground, it spreads out along the surface and first few inches of the ground in increasing circles of energy called "ground current." If it contacts a fence or a water pipe or wire entering a house it can be transmitted for quite a distance and cause injury to persons near these paths. People, being bags of electrolytes, are better transmitters of electrical current than most ground is, and many are injured by ground current effect each year as the lightning energy surges up one leg that is closer to the strike and down the one further away.

  

"My mother always told me to stay off the telephone (out of the bath tub, away from windows, unplug the appliances, etc.) during a thunderstorm. "

  

    Good advice, if not always practical. Again, the ground current effect of energy transmitted into the structure along wires or pipes may find the person a better conduit to ground.(3,4) Many injuries occur every year to telephone users inside the home. One of the biggest new areas of consumer fraud has to do with claims of loss of "valuable" databases on computers damaged by lightning.(5)

    "Lightning only occurs with thunderstorms."

  

    Most people know to seek shelter once the storm clouds roll overhead. Few realize that one of the most dangerous times for a fatal strike is before the storm. Lightning may travel as far as 10 km nearly horizontally from the thunderhead and seem to occur "out of the clear blue sky" or at least when the day is still mostly sunny. The faster the storm is traveling and the more violent it is, the more likely this is to occur. Another time underestimated for its potential danger is the end of a thunderstorm.(2-6)

  

    "If we could just harness lightning we could use that to power the world for months. "

  

    Uman eloquently explains the reason this cannot be done and is false in his book, All About Lightning.(2)  He makes two points:  it is impractical to intercept a sufficient number of the lightning strikes occurring in the world, and most of the energy in a lightning strike is converted to thunder, heat, light, and radio waves. He notes, "If its total energy were available, a single lightning flash would run an ordinary household light bulb for only a few months."(2)

  

    "Lightning could be used for a military weapon. "

  

    Again, Uman (2), a professor of electrical engineering who writes with wonderful clarity, is my source. "In view of the awesome destructive power of modern weaponry, the military use of lightning . . . would probably be more as a psychological than as a destructive weapon."(2)

And last but not least, "Lightning never strikes the same place twice."

    In reality, the Empire State Building and the Sears Tower get hit thousands of times a year, as do mountain tops and radio-television antennas. If the circumstances facilitating the original lightning strike are still in effect in an area, then the laws of nature will encourage lightning strikes to continue to be more prevalent there. After all, that is the reason that lightning protection systems are required on many public buildings (including hospitals) by building codes.

Answer 2

Sure you can! Or if you're in your car or standing next to a tree. I doesn't mater who, what, when, or where, lightning is dangerous and can strike anything at any time.

Answer 3

There's not an earthly chance of you being hit by lightning whilst holding a piece of aluminium~even if you're looking out of your window.  I have taken my dog for walks during a thunderstorm and it did'nt even strike the metal part of his collar.  There is a definite chance of being struck by lightning if you were standing next to a tree,because wood is a good conductor for lightning.

Answer 4

It makes no difference what you're holding or what shoes you are wearing, lightning can strike you.

The one exception to this is if you happen to be holding a 1-iron golf club, because as Lee Trevino said "Even God can't hit a 1-iron."  (Sorry, golf joke)

Answer 5

Metal has conductivity.  Meaning it is a lightning rod for electrocution.  Wouldn't be the smartest thing you could do.

Answer 6

You can get hit by lightning no matter what.  If you're holding any source of metal your chances will just get higher.