Lighting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Lighting - Essay Example Primarily, we should understand the process of lightning so that we become aware of how it actually takes place (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). There are small particles found in clouds called Hydrometeors. As they attain maturity, they start interacting with each other because of which they become charged. â€Å"Updrafts send the smaller positively charged particles upward and gravity pulls the bigger negatively charged particles downward. This results in clouds having their upper part positive charges and lower part negative charges† (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). This partition of charges causes a large electric potential not only between clouds themselves but also between the clouds and the earth. This electrical potential sometimes contains magnitude of million voltages. Ultimately, the electrical battle in the air collapse and lightning, the electrical expulsion between the areas of the cloud or between the cloud and the earth, takes place (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). A li ghtning strike can cause death several injuries to human beings. The method of injury is distinctive, and the demonstration differs from those of other electrical injuries. Lightning can injure people in many ways, such as it can impinge on a person directly or indirectly. It can cause heart damage or cardiac arrest; it is often responsible for causing temporary paralysis to the seriously injured people. Lightning may displace the bones or completely damage them; it sometimes creates skull fractures and cervical spine injuries. Lungs might be damaged which creates difficulty in breathing. It causes eye injuries which results in visual problems. It has been a notice by the experts that lightning causes more incidents in America annually than any other natural calamities. Thousands of lightning occurs every year and according to a data an average of â€Å"82 persons die each year from 1995 to 2000 three out of every four lightning deaths from the South and Midwest of America and one out of every four deaths was work-related i.e. from farming and construction works† (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50). Many people are injured and many are killed due to lack of information or slapdash behavior during thunderstorm. Although there can be no absolute protection from lightning but experts have mentioned certain security measures that can reduce the possibility of being injured or killed due to lightning. Firstly, people should stay at safe places during thunderstorm. However there are no entirely safe places, but some places are safer than others are (Renner, pp. 23-39). Large and enclosed structures are considered as more appropriate to stay at than smaller and open structures. The danger for lightning injury depends on the structure having a feature of lightning protection, materials used in its construction and size of the structure. Generally, completely enclosed metal automobiles such as trucks, cars, vans, etc (Adekoya & Nolte, pp. 45-50), with the windows turne d up give good protection from lightning. One should avoid touching metal or conducting surfaces inside or the vehicle. Secondly, one should avoid going to high and open places, remote trees, defenseless gazebos, picnic points, baseball bunkers, connections towers, flagstaff, light pole, metal and wood benches, farm carts, and water related places such as oceans, seas, swimming pools, and rivers. One should stay away from using telephone, taking bathe, washing hands and dishes. Moreover, one may avoid contact with metal doors and windows, wiring cables of telephone, and television. If individuals can observe lightning and hear noise of thunder, they are already at threat. Noisy or repeated thunder shows that lightning activity is imminent and it is increasing