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Picture of the day -
June 22, 2006
Aftermath Of A Lightning Strike
Lightning is one of the most feared forces in nature, and with good reason. The
human body is an electrical conductor that can (and sometimes does) serve as a
conduit for the almost instantaneous discharge of millions of volts of static
electricity into the ground - what we know as a lightning strike.
Today's picture is an excellent illustration of just how powerful a lightning
strike really is. This poor locust tree was virtually destroyed when lightning ripped it
apart as the intense electric current heated the wood molecules and caused them
to rapidly expand - splitting the hard locust wood into several pieces.
What makes this lightning strike so interesting is the location of the tree. It
wasn't high on a hill or on an open plain as one might expect. Instead,
it stood in an area that is actually lower than the road that my brother Glen was driving
on when he spotted it! There are tree-covered hills nearby that rise much higher
than the top of this tree would have been, so it's interesting that the
lightning chose to take the path it took.
The only thing that really distinguishes this tree from the others in the area
is the fact that it stood alone with no other trees near it. Lightning always
seeks the path of least resistance so that it can most efficiently discharge the
massive amount of stored energy to ground, and apparently this unlucky locust was it.
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