19 People Who Survived Getting Struck By Lightning Show What It Does To Your Skin
The odds of getting struck by lightning in any given year are about 1 in 300,000. And although roughly 90% of those struck survive, the electrical discharge scars some of them with a tattoo-like mark, known as the Lichtenberg figure. But that’s not all.
A lightning bolt can heat the surrounding air to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,760 degrees Celsius) – which is five times hotter than the sun – and can contain up to 1 billion volts of electricity. It’s terrifying to imagine what this amount of energy in a lightning strike could do to a human.
When the lightning enters your body, it short-circuits the small electrical signals that run the heart, lungs, and nervous system. This can lead to cardiac arrest, seizures, brain injury, spinal cord damage, and amnesia. The blistering heat, light, and electricity can also damage your eyes. For example, it can bore holes in your retina and cause cataracts, a clouding of the lenses. Unfortunately for men, lightning can also induce impotence and decrease libido in general.
As the lightning moves toward the surface of the body, it can force red blood cells out of your capillaries, into your epidermis like a bruise. These lightning strike scars are the earlier mentioned Lichtenberg figures. The insane temperatures can also heat up any metal you’re wearing, causing third-degree burns. Or rapidly vaporize the sweat or rain on your skin. Sometimes, this steam explosion even blows off people’s clothes or shoes, leaving them nearly naked. Scroll down to meet some of the people that have shared their survival stories with us!
(h/t allthatisinteresting, businessinsider)
The odds of getting struck by lightning in any given year are about 1 in 300,000
Image credits: unknown
And although roughly 90% of those struck survive, the electrical discharge scars some of them with a tattoo-like mark
Image credits: unknown
It is known as the Lichtenberg figure
Image credits: whampbeef
A lightning bolt can heat the surrounding air to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,760 degrees Celsius)
Image credits: unknown
This is five times hotter than the sun
Image credits: unknown
A cloud-to-ground strike cal also contain up to 1 billion volts of electricity
Image credits: unknown
When this amount of energy enters your body, it short-circuits the small electrical signals that run the heart, lungs, and nervous system
Image credits: unknown
This can lead to cardiac arrest, seizures, brain injury, spinal cord damage, and amnesia
Image credits: nejm
The blistering heat, light, and electricity can also damage your eyes
Image credits: unknown
For example, it can bore holes in your retina and cause cataracts (cloudings of the lenses)
Image credits: unknown
Unfortunately for men, lightning can also induce impotence and decrease libido in general
Image credits: CBS
The Lichtenberg figures are the results of the lightning moving toward the surface of the body
Image credits: unknown
When it forces the red blood cells out of your capillaries
Image credits: unknown
A man called Winston Kemp was struck by lightning back in 2011
Image credits: nejm
Ironically, the man is an electrician
Image credits: sciencegeekgirl
“I went outside to save my pumpkins. After that, I was going back inside”
Image credits: geardiary
“I just know it struck in our neighbor’s backyard, and it was bright and loud. I didn’t feel anything”
Image credits: geardiary
“I just came back inside like nothing was wrong. Umm…my arm was sore. <…> [It was] maybe an hour before I saw the marks”
Image credits: geardiary
“A few hours after it happened it really started to bother me. The next day it was bad. The blisters started forming; they were really big” They kept on growing for a week!
Image credits: geardiary
Lightning strikes the United States about 25 million times a year
Image credits: Kansas City Golf
And they can also engrave fields of grass
Image credits: Anna Garcia
So golf courses can really highlight these Lichtenberg figures
Image credits: beingto
Which are named after the German physicist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg who originally discovered and studied them
Image credits: Anna Garcia
That's what we see from the outside, I wonder the consequences on the organs. I hope for them it didn't damage anything and that it's not too painful.
The third picture down, ouch! That one certainly looks painful :( the poor guy.
The patterns it can leave may look beautiful but, OW. Must be so painful.
It's almost like the patterns left by 'Jack Frost' on the inside of window panes in unheated houses.
The extreme heat and extreme cold leaving the same patterns. Interesting!
leaving identical patterns on the skin and the grass though
I was struck by ground lightning last Fall. We had one huge old 100+ year oak that was our main shade tree. It was 20 mins after a storm, the sun was out, skies blue. I heard no thunder. Then out of nowhere an incredibly loud BANG and WHITE LIGHT and the lightning hit that tree! I was not under it, but not far from it. I felt the lightning go through my body. I was lucky! About 4 months later, that old oak was dead. All brown leaves. We had to have it cut down. It was SCARY!!!! Like you've heard, the dangerous time is AFTER the storm, when you think it's safe!! It isn't.
That's scary. Saw your second comment regarding the awning and the girl there dying. So sad. We always were told as children to stay away from trees and that cars were the safest place because of tyres being made of rubber. You can't always be prepared for random though!
The advice is NEVER to shelter under a tree though - a really good way of putting yourself at greater risk.
True! We had a small group of people who sheltered under the awning of a camper, and one of the girls who was struck there died. Two others were hurt. Terrible. I wasn't under the tree, I was out in the open, in the yard, the tree behind me. I know better than to shelter under any tree. I was getting my dog, so he'd come in. I let him out to pee after the rain stopped. It was so surreal...
Even being near a tree can be risky. Don't be around trees around storms apparently.
Never near any pointy thing (including those pointy unmbrellas!) and because of this, better lay on the floor thanstanding up.
Came back to add that where I live in north central FL, it is the capital of lightning here. A couple of weeks ago, a strike hit the transformer across the street from our home, sparks flew and our power went out. When it came back on several seconds later, the lights were dimming and getting brighter, then dimming. It was so weird. Like a horror movie. We hit the main breaker, cut our power, called the power company. They came and replaced the transformer. Power back on, yay! But the lightning hit our TV and our ROKU. We were lucky, our A/C was fine, and our computer/modem/router also!!
Wow! I would think it to be safe then also! So scary! What did the lighting feel like when it passed through your body? Immense heat or pain or something else?
Yikes! Glad you made it okay. And I didn't know that about lightning storms, thanks for sharing. I'll be more cautious in the future.
That's what we see from the outside, I wonder the consequences on the organs. I hope for them it didn't damage anything and that it's not too painful.
The third picture down, ouch! That one certainly looks painful :( the poor guy.
The patterns it can leave may look beautiful but, OW. Must be so painful.
It's almost like the patterns left by 'Jack Frost' on the inside of window panes in unheated houses.
The extreme heat and extreme cold leaving the same patterns. Interesting!
leaving identical patterns on the skin and the grass though
I was struck by ground lightning last Fall. We had one huge old 100+ year oak that was our main shade tree. It was 20 mins after a storm, the sun was out, skies blue. I heard no thunder. Then out of nowhere an incredibly loud BANG and WHITE LIGHT and the lightning hit that tree! I was not under it, but not far from it. I felt the lightning go through my body. I was lucky! About 4 months later, that old oak was dead. All brown leaves. We had to have it cut down. It was SCARY!!!! Like you've heard, the dangerous time is AFTER the storm, when you think it's safe!! It isn't.
That's scary. Saw your second comment regarding the awning and the girl there dying. So sad. We always were told as children to stay away from trees and that cars were the safest place because of tyres being made of rubber. You can't always be prepared for random though!
The advice is NEVER to shelter under a tree though - a really good way of putting yourself at greater risk.
True! We had a small group of people who sheltered under the awning of a camper, and one of the girls who was struck there died. Two others were hurt. Terrible. I wasn't under the tree, I was out in the open, in the yard, the tree behind me. I know better than to shelter under any tree. I was getting my dog, so he'd come in. I let him out to pee after the rain stopped. It was so surreal...
Even being near a tree can be risky. Don't be around trees around storms apparently.
Never near any pointy thing (including those pointy unmbrellas!) and because of this, better lay on the floor thanstanding up.
Came back to add that where I live in north central FL, it is the capital of lightning here. A couple of weeks ago, a strike hit the transformer across the street from our home, sparks flew and our power went out. When it came back on several seconds later, the lights were dimming and getting brighter, then dimming. It was so weird. Like a horror movie. We hit the main breaker, cut our power, called the power company. They came and replaced the transformer. Power back on, yay! But the lightning hit our TV and our ROKU. We were lucky, our A/C was fine, and our computer/modem/router also!!
Wow! I would think it to be safe then also! So scary! What did the lighting feel like when it passed through your body? Immense heat or pain or something else?
Yikes! Glad you made it okay. And I didn't know that about lightning storms, thanks for sharing. I'll be more cautious in the future.