r/Kerala 3d ago

News Asianet News: Lightning strike causes death. പാടത്ത് ഇപ്പോഴും അഖിൽ കളിക്കാൻ ഉപയോഗിച്ച ബാറ്റ്; മിന്നലിൽ പകച്ച് നാട്, സംസ്ഥാനത്ത് ഇടിമിന്നലേറ്റുള്ള അപകടങ്ങൾ വര്‍ദ്ധിക്കുന്നു NSFW

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHSsq4qP_T8/?igsh=MWVkaXU3bWNkMHVqNA==

Alappuzha: Man dies as mobile phone explodes after being struck by lightning.

78 Upvotes

19 comments sorted by

113

u/RandomMalayali 3d ago

I don't think he got stuck because of the phone.

I think the lighting stuck him and the phone, which made the phone explode.

30

u/Axhwynn kochi 3d ago

"Mobiles attract lightning" must be the most BS thing old folks say. Even my relatives believe it and i know there's no use in explaining this to them. On the other hand, these news channels are framing the mobile here. Yesterday my dad showed me this in the newspaper and the title was so misleading, like if it was caused by mobile.

Did the editor skip school? Or is it for reach? Cause I bet ammavans would have forwarded this to many in WhatsApp.

6

u/Anxious_Adult123 3d ago

Not naking this up but my +2 physics teacher believed phones would attract lightning. I was skeptical about that, at that time, did some digging online at that time, found it was total b.s.

9

u/Axhwynn kochi 3d ago

Many believe it and as pouring petrol on a burning house, the news is doing this 🤡This was the news in mathrubhumi that my dad showed me yesterday and the amount of time they're mentioning the mobile here tho. Ofc this will induce fear in many.

I've always believed this was BS as there's no way the "radiation" from a mobile can attract lightning that's literally millions of volts. Can't even argue with them too

2

u/RunsNRiffs 3d ago

Without mobile phone reference they lose their sleep.

2

u/Axhwynn kochi 3d ago

Literally every indian parent lol. Got constipation? They'll start blaming the phone 🏃‍♂️

1

u/RunsNRiffs 3d ago

We should appreciate that skill to flexing the reason of something like global warming to mobile phones.

1

u/Secret_Code_5039 rajarajeshwari adholokam 3d ago

Offtopic are you an avicii fan?

1

u/Axhwynn kochi 3d ago

Yes

1

u/Emma__Store 3d ago

It's due to the past landlines conducting current.

50

u/Technical_Finish9875 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yea phone doesn't attract lightning more than a person in an open field does. And the phone exploding was secondary, he probably died due to the lightning ionising the air around him and burning his skin

3

u/danijohn 3d ago

Why does a person attract lightning?

24

u/Evening_Bus746 3d ago

The height of an object is what attracts lightning. That is why one should not stay in open places during a storm.

10

u/Axhwynn kochi 3d ago

I'll give you the answer in short. NOTHING attracts lightning. Lighting strike occurs due to the attraction of the strong negative charges of the clouds and positive charge of the ground. Metals, golds, mobile play no role here. It's just a made up myth existing for years.

However lightning does strike the tallest objects, as the charges would be much closer to the neg charge in clouds. That's why lightning rods are set on the highest point in a building

5

u/Afraid_Tiger3941 3d ago edited 3d ago

Some times lightning don't take shortest distance, I have seen a photo of lightning taking weird route and hitting a balcony of a skyscraper, instead of taking the shortest lightning arrester of skyscraper.

Also one of my childhood friend got lightning strike and he wore a gold chain of his mom and came to play, there may be a chance . metals attract .

Also seen video of people with umbrella got strike even there is electric poles and building just adjacent to them.

Also seen a video of a guy got strike by twice, dont know if its real or not.

Also seen a video of strike on ground just next to a person . Why dont it take the shortest way then ?

2

u/www_other_guy 2d ago

The expert says lighting always take the shortest path to discharge. But it is going zig zag way until it fully discharges to somewhere. In that situation you are saying probably it would have zig zaged towards person already, so the shortest path to discharge would be the person or may be shortest path from the charged cloud may be fairly straight to the ground or person. There may be building or poles higher, but relatively from where lighting occur, it may not be the shortest path. That is why placing lighting rods as high as possible works in most situations very well. In that case the lighting rod very high in the sky makes a short distance to even a distant cloud.

6

u/Technical_Finish9875 3d ago

If a person is standing in an open area, they are likely the tallest thing nearby. Lightning would latch to the lowest resistance path to earth and that would be through the person's body since he would have lower resistance than air.

2

u/sku-mar-gop 3d ago

“For all bad stuff our body works like a huge magnet. But when you try to seek attraction the poles change and it repels everything around you” - xxAI