Is it true that you can be electrocuted if lightning strikes while you are on the phone?

Question

I've heard of it happening, but thought it just meant the old 'above-ground wires' kind of phones. Now I'm hearing it applies to today's phones as well, at least the landlines.

Is this true or not?

Answer 1

All the elements for current flow are there ... and a lot of phone lines are still run up on the pole. If lightning strikes the phone line while you are on the phone then you are a path to ground. You won't be the only one and you might not be the path of least resistance but you are a path and some current should pass through you. It would be reckless for anyone to reassure you that you won't be electrocuted because as with all other things of this nature it is instead a question of probability.

You probably won't be on the phone at the time. Lightning probably won't strike a phone line nearby. You probably won't be a very conductive path to ground. But you might.

Answer 2

YES,  if you are using a regular land line phone linked by cables there is possibility that you may be struck . Because when lightning strikes the high voltage passes through electric and telephone cables and damages the equipment connected to it. So there is possibility of electrocution because the voltage build up could be as high as 10,000 volts or more. But this will not happen unless the lightning strikes your house or the telephone wires connected to your house comes in contact with the lightning

Normal electric supply for domestic use in the US is  110. volts. so   10,000 volts is mighty high, but dont worry it is ultimately a question of probability. Then their are lot of probabilities like ; being run over by a car, bitten by a snake, drowning in the swimming pool, being attacked by a hooligan, having a heart attack and may be a nuclear holocaust. so dont worry live life as it comes everyday.

Answer 3

yup.

Answer 4

Very definitely....with land-lined phones.

You could end up with electrocution-related brain damage because if lightning current hits your receiver, you likely hold the receiver in your ear...or near your ear. When lightning travels, it travels very fast....

Lightning travels at 186K miles per second (186000 miles per second). So that's fast. And you can't react that fast when lightning hits your telephone lines.....As fast as you can see the lightning....BOOM!....you get hit in 1/24000 of a second by that lightning bolt from that phone receiver.