3 hours ago, gr8fldanielle said:

Pine trees are notorious for being hit by lightning because their tap roots run very deep.

 

Ha ha ha ha, yeah right.

just wondering how the lightening knows that?

Lightning always goes the easiest way to ground as fx trees or high buildings....

2 hours ago, sanukjim said:

You are much better off in open ground sitting in a slight depression in the land.The noble phone has nothing to do with it,it is the tree that was the grounding point

If you're in open ground during a lightening storm and happen to be the only thing standing I would be more than a little concerned

typically lightening looks for something tall to get to ground/earth!

Rather than sitting in a slight depression I would put my head between my knees and kiss my ass goodbye !

18 minutes ago, cat handler said:

Ha ha ha ha, yeah right.

just wondering how the lightening knows that?

Because the lightning comes from the ground first.

The reason why many golf tournaments are postponed during play due to thunderstorms is the danger to golfers clubs being struck by lightning, not the fact that golfers won't play in the rain!

5 hours ago, crystal sauce said:

Why would lightning strikes humans?

Have a little more hot sauce...

5 hours ago, crystal sauce said:

Why would lightning strikes humans?

it diden't it struck the tree and jumped to earth through them and the tree, they would have been safer to be out on the beach in the open curled up in a ball, but how many people know this in Thailand 

 

You would think that people who basically live outdoors most of their lives would be more in tune with the weather???? ?

45 minutes ago, cat handler said:

Ha ha ha ha, yeah right.

just wondering how the lightening knows that?

I don't think the deep roots matter much, pine trees are tall, and that is why the often are hit. 

 

But if you really are wondering about how lighting knows things, look into quantum physics. Electrons (and light) actually do have an ability to know the path of least resistance even before they transverse a medium. These tiny particles of energy do not follow the same laws of physics that us bigger objects obey.  

34 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Because the lightning comes from the ground first.

Actually lightning goes both up and down. It depends on the balance of electrons. Sometimes the air has more electrons, and sometimes the ground has more electrons. The potential energy always tries to balance itself. 

6 hours ago, crystal sauce said:

Why would lightning strikes humans?

Out of a sick vindictive wish to punish them for their sins !

22 minutes ago, fish monger said:

Have a little more hot sauce...

Thanks but I prefer crystal sauce.

The fact remains that it is a very sad thing to happen to someone on their holiday. Condolences to the survivor and the lady's family.

Another possibility (perhaps not in this case though) is that lightning can hit the wet ground and then travel along the ground and then up whatever tall object is near

i have witnessed the results of this

I think it's safe to say that, I won't be testing any theories too soon....Tree or no tree.

Duh, can somebody please change the headline. [emoji36]
It was the tree, not their phone attracting the lightning.
Would be much better in terms of education and raising awareness about this incident.

4 hours ago, sandrabbit said:

I think the mobile phone urban myth comes from your house telephone when the outside cable was struck by lightning whilst someone was on the phone.

So what happened when lighting struck the cable when someone was on the phone? Does it conduit the electricity to the phone and your ear got roasted? I am curious. Because we don't use house phone anymore.

But I never heard anyone struck by lighting using a house phone when I was a kid so I am curious you mentioned this.

7 hours ago, crystal sauce said:

Why would lightning strikes humans?

Not  so  often  directly  but people do make the  mistake of taking  shelter  under   a large tree during   lighting  and  rain storms. 

It is the tree that is  more  likely to  attract the  lightening so being  very  close to it    makes  the  humans a  co  victim.

I  have  been a  witness  to  an event where two students  were  leaning against a tree  which was  struck  by lightening. Both  lost  both  feet  and one  most of  one leg  instantly. Both  lived  but  with   massive  physical  damage also to all  joints  in their  bodies.

1 hour ago, madusa said:

So what happened when lighting struck the cable when someone was on the phone? Does it conduit the electricity to the phone and your ear got roasted? I am curious. Because we don't use house phone anymore.

But I never heard anyone struck by lighting using a house phone when I was a kid so I am curious you mentioned this.

why do you think you are advised to remove appliances & extension leads from sockets in thunderstorms?.

15 minutes ago, Dumbastheycome said:

Not  so  often  directly  but people do make the  mistake of taking  shelter  under   a large tree during   lighting  and  rain storms. 

It is the tree that is  more  likely to  attract the  lightening so being  very  close to it    makes  the  humans a  co  victim.

I  have  been a  witness  to  an event where two students  were  leaning against a tree  which was  struck  by lightening. Both  lost  both  feet  and one  most of  one leg  instantly. Both  lived  but  with   massive  physical  damage also to all  joints  in their  bodies.

Why are lighting attracted to trees and they often strike trees. Many people don't know about this and they take shelter under trees.

3 minutes ago, madusa said:

Why are lighting attracted to trees and they often strike trees. Many people don't know about this and they take shelter under trees.

Presumably  because  is  closest  point of  contact  to  earth. Same  reason  tall buildings  have   lighting  rods attached  to   heavy  cable  directly  to  ground.

 

Is he extremely lucky or extremely unlucky??

Trees are also full of sap coupled with their often deep roots and height above ground you have an almost perfect lightning conductor.... Never sit under a tree during a lightning storm 

Get away from that tree, even being indoors is not a sure fire method of avoiding a lighting strike. Stay out of the bath tub and do not go near windows. People have been known to be struck thru a window

10 hours ago, sweatalot said:

I don't believe their mobile phones have anything to do wit their accident.

But I do believe their sitting under a tree on the otherwise empty beach caused it.

 

It might be true that many lightning victims had their mobile with them.

The reason is clear: how many percent have no mobile with them.

Same logic as "people who were struck by lightning had a head, so they are more in danger than than those without"

 

Corded Phones

It is extremely dangerous to talk on a corded landline phone during a storm. If lightning strikes your home, or power lines around your home, the current can travel through the wiring to your phone. If you are holding the phone at this time, you'll be hit with the full strength of the electrical current. According to the National Weather Service, about five percent of people struck by lightning are struck while talking on a corded Telephone.

Cell Phones

Cell phones, and landlines with cordless phones, do not carry the same risk as phones with cords. With corded phones, there is a conductive path a lightning bolt could follow from the location it originally strikes to your body. Cell phones and cordless phones, however, do not provide this kind of conductive path. This makes them safe to use during lightning storms. However, a cell phone plugged into its charger carries the same danger during lightning storms as a corded phone.

 

http://itstillworks.com/dangerous-talk-phone-during-lightning-34361.html

 

 

12 hours ago, sweatalot said:

I don't believe their mobile phones have anything to do wit their accident.

But I do believe their sitting under a tree on the otherwise empty beach caused it.

 

It might be true that many lightning victims had their mobile with them.

The reason is clear: how many percent have no mobile with them.

Same logic as "people who were struck by lightning had a head, so they are more in danger than than those without"

 

You are wrong. I have read many places that when there is lightning you should never speak on mobile.

When I was a kid I learned that you should avoid sitting under any tree during a lightning storm .  I guess they never learned that in Thai schools. 

 

 

My wife and I live on a farm NE of Surin. Two years ago this month, the wife and I were lying in the hammock under our patio roof.  There was a slight sprinkling of rain, but no dark clouds or thunder. I saw our daughter, who was 5 at the time was dancing around in the rain with her umbrella. I told her to please not play in the rain and she went into the house. Less than 5 minutes later-BANG- the sound was deafening and we felt the concussion as a single lightning bolt, struck a coconut tree less than 15 feet away from us and closer to where the daughter had been playing. The wife almost jumped out of the hammock.The strike blew the top palm branches apart and most of the coconuts were split. There was steam and boiled sap coming out through the trunk and the top was on fire. This tree was just over 30 feet tall and 20 inches in diameter and the coconuts were as big as bowling balls. Two days later, the monks came and blessed the tree for saving our house.  

A PINE tree though, on a tropical beach.  I did not know they grew there.

The Nepalese have an interesting theory about lightning strikes.

 

The reason why so many temples have carvings with very explicit sex acts, is that the goddess of lightning is a virgin, and is too shy to go near a building with those sculptures.

 

<<<<Foreign language removed>>>>

Of course putting dry palm leaves at various places in the house (as my mother used to do) helps too.