Somewhere in the sky, in the guts of a storm, lightning is forming.
Although it’s rare, with the odds of getting struck in your lifetime being roughly 1 in 12,000, every now and then a human will provide an attractive target for lightning bolts to unleash their energy. And of the roughly 500 people who are struck by lightning each year, about 90 percent survive. Here’s what you should expect if you ever find yourself in the path of lightning.
Lightning is a huge discharge of static electricity resulting from an imbalance in electrically charged regions between the Earth’s surface and a cloud. Around 10% of lightning-stroke victims die, and 70% will suffer serious long-term problems such as brain damage and personality changes.
Interestingly, when lightning strikes some people they develop Lichtenberg figures across their skin. This striking skin pattern, as pictured below, is likely caused by the rupture of capillaries beneath the skin from the electrical discharge. They are sometimes called “lightning flowers” or “skin feathering” but the medical terms are arborescent (tree-like) erythema or keraunographic markings.
Just like what happened to a 54-year-old man, a lightning strike survivor, who was fortunate enough to be up and about till the time he landed in the emergency room, preceded by an initial short-lived stupor right after the strike.
On examination, a painless cutaneous branching pattern was observed over his back and extremities. These marks spontaneously disappeared in two days.
It’s not uncommon for the blast to rupture your eardrums, possibly leading to hearing loss. And, of course, you can expect a whole world of pain. One victim recalled it as “the pain of a thousand wasps stinging from within.”
Immediately after being struck, the disruption the lightning would have caused to your heart’s electrical rhythm could result in cardiac arrest, one of the leading causes of death in lightning strike victims.
The shock could also cause seizures or respiratory arrest. If the electric current enters your skull, it could literally cook your brain, resulting in brain damage or putting you in a coma. The strike could even cause temporary or permanent paralysis.
But it doesn’t end there.
In the wake of a lightning attack, you might be faced with a lifetime of neurological afflictions for reasons that scientists still don’t fully understand. Some scientists believe that lightning scrambles your internal circuitry, altering the behavior of your cells. You might undergo personality changes, mood swings, and memory loss. It’s also possible that you will suffer from chronic pain and constant Parkinson’s-like muscle twitches.
Although these marks look pretty damn cool, they are extremely rare, and most people come off much worse when struck by lightning! So don’t try to recreate them at home by shocking yourself.
Watch the video below:
Source: AWM
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