Inquiry #7

Lighting Storms

Thesis

Our thesis is that children in schools should be taught what to do when there is a lightning storm and what the dangers are.

Intro

In this Inquiry we will be going over Lightning storms. We will be covering what a lightning storm is, how they occur, what negative effects they have, what countries/regions they are most common and much more.

What is a lightning storm?

A lightning storm and a thunderstorm are very similar. The main difference being that lightning storms having lightning that strikes the ground and thunderstorms could just have the noise because of chain lightning which is just cloud to cloud lightning. The reason that this inquiry is titled lightning storm rather than thunderstorms is simply because we wanted to use the specifics.

How do lightning storms occur?

Lightning storms form when warm, moist air rises into cold air. The warm air becomes cooler, which causes moisture, called water vapor, to form small water droplets. If this happens with large amounts of air and moisture, a thunderstorm can form. When lightning starts to appear is when the storm drifts over a negatively charged area, for example, a place near central Florida, between Tampa and Orlando, is known as "lightning alley”. This place is known for at least 35 strikes of lightning in the same area for the past 6 years! The only reason that it’s so common for lightning to appear there is because lightning in clouds consists of positive energy. when it comes close to a place that possesses negative energy the two energies collide and make lightning.

What are some of the negative effects of lightning storms?

A person can be killed or seriously damaged by lightning and it can also cause severe damage to property. About 6,000-24,000 people worldwide are killed every year from lightning. According to iii, there were nearly $900,000,000 worth of insurance claims due to lightning strike damage to properties in 2019 America alone. They also stated that it is not surprising that the cost of lightning damage has risen due to the fact that houses are becoming more vulnerable. This is because lightning will make its way through any wire that it can find and fry the devices connected to them. Houses have a lot more electricity reliant things like TVs, computers and charging phones, all at risk to lightning.

What countries/regions are lightning storms most common?

Central South Africa is where lightning strikes are the most common. This is due to climate change. A curious meteorologist wondered why thunderstorms were becoming more and more common in south Africa in the era of climate change. He found that they were linked. The reason that they are linkedis really complicated and we would nearly take an entire other inquiry to explain.The earth experiences 8 to 9 million lightning strikes every single day. In a typical year, the United States will see about 70,000 thunderstorms somewhere in its territory. This produces approximately 20 million lightning strikes annually.

What are the chances of getting struck by lightning?

The chance of getting struck by lightning is around 1:500,000. But people are always going to get struck by lightning every year, that group consists of 43 people. Only 5 of those people get killed by lightning each year and the other 90%(38) only get broken bones,severe bruises, head injuries and memory loss and no deaths.

What happens to the human body when it is struck by Lightning?

When your body is struck by lightning you can go into cardiac arrest and you can get severly burned. Cardiac arrest is losing heart function out of nowhere which usually causes damage to your brain and nervous system. This could also prevent your brain from sending the signal to breath. If a lightning strikes and hits multiple people in the same facility, attention should be aimed at the people that appear dead because they might be in respiratory arrest. If they are then they need to receive CPR as soon as possible, although lightning strike victims can still help a longer period of time than other types of injuries so you will have more time than you would think.

What are some interesting things about lightning?

Surprisingly there are 3 types of lighting! There's chain lightning (cloud to cloud) which only travels through clouds and doesn’t touch the ground. There’s cloud to ground, which is the most common form of lightning and is the one that causes the most damage out of all three. And the last one is Cloud to air in which bolts go in all directions apart from downwards. Cloud to air is the easiest to see and also made the biggest lightning bolt recorded! It was in Brazil and the bolt was 708kms(440miles) long which is equivalent to 2 and 4/5 trips to Auckland! There are also 3 types of lightning bolts, Bead lightning, Ribbon lightning, and rocket lightning. Bead lightning from afar looks like beads in the sky, which is where they got their name. Ribbon lightning is the kind of lighting you would see in a movie like the lightning Thor produces where he uses his powers. And rocket lightning which looks very strange closeup, to one side of the bolt there are many small ribbon lightning bolts and the other side looks similar to a large blue flame. Lightning bolts can also get 5 times hotter than the sun's surface, for example, 50,000 Fahrenheit!

What was the worst accident caused by lightning?

On June 26, 1807, lightning hit a gunpowder factory in the small European country of Luxembourg, killing more than 300 people. Lightning kills approximately 73 people every year in the US alone, but victims are almost always killed one at a time. The Luxembourg disaster may have been the most deadly lightning strike in history. In 1807, Luxembourg was occupied by Napoleon’s army. The French dictator used the country to stockpile weapons and ammunition. Many underground bunkers were built for this purpose. In the southern Luxembourg city of Kirchberg, a fortress built in 1732 was used as an armory.

When lightning struck the fortress on June 26, the ammunition housed within ignited on contact, causing a massive explosion. Two entire blocks were completely razed by the blast, which caused several other fires to rage nearby. The London Times later reported, "This city has been plunged into the greatest consternation and distress."

What has already been done to combat the effects of lightning storms?

Safety recommendations have already been made if you find yourself in the middle of a lightning storm. Here are the recommended steps to take, recommended by the NZ government, suspend activities for at least 30 minutes after the first flash/ warning of lightning. If no shelter is available, crouch low, with as little of your body touching the ground as possible. Lightning causes electric currents along the top of the ground that can be deadly over 100 feet away. Stay away from concrete floors or walls. Our expert said that our car would be the safest place to be during a lightning storm, since it is pretty much a metal cage that the lightning can only go around. Therefore keeps the owner/person who is inside the vehicle safe.

What could be done further to combat the negative effects of lightning storms?

The world health organisation could inform people on all of the recommended steps to keep safe during a lightning storm. They could also send a notification to phone owners in the facility of the lightning storm, like the tsunami alarm everyone got on their phone about 3 weeks ago. It was very effective to spread the word around the school and public places e.g. parks, cafes & shops that they should keep an eye out in case they were in danger.

Conclusion

So to sum up everything we have said so far, we have talked about what a lightning storm is, how they occur, the most common countries/regions they occur and some of the interesting things and facts about lightning. We have also talked about what injuries getting struck by lightning can introduce, the history of lightning storms and what has and what can be further done to combat the negative effects of lightning storms. All of this information contributes towards our thesis, our answer to our fertile question and the key to mitigating the negative effects of lightning storms. Our thesis is that children in schools should be taught what to do when there is a lightning storm and what the dangers are.

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