When lightning strikes, most of electrical discharge occurs near the water's surface. Most fish swim below the surface and are unaffected.
It tends to be objects or living creatures at the surface of the water that are most likely to be affected: generally, fish will not be killed by lightning strikes as they tend to swim deeper than surface level.
Why doesn't that kill fish by the thousands? Physics has the answer. Like metal, water is a good conductor, so it encourages the electrical current to travel over its surface rather than delve underneath, the same way a Faraday cage protects its contents from harmful shocks.
He took the average strikes across the worlds oceans, compared it the surface area of the oceans, the number of whales estimated in the ocean, the time the are at the surface etc... and to cut a long story short, he reckons, yes, statistically whales must have been killed by lightning many times in the past few ...
Though the likelihood is extremely low, it is possible that lightning could strike the dolphin's body if it is the highest point in the ocean.
Fish therefore die due to lack of oxygen. When a fish is electrocuted, it becomes rigid with slight body tremors, then gradually relaxes and shows no further movement.
As a consequence, cows are the farm animals most likely to have an encounter with lightning. Cow casualties from lightning strikes in the United States aren't very high, but when such strikes do occur they can be devastating for an individual farmer. That's because cows, like reindeer, often huddle together.
A lightning strike can damage your pool's pump, filter and heater. The strike overloads the electrical circuits and can ruin the equipment. You can install surge protectors to prevent lightning from damaging your pool, but that's just another cost that makes pool ownership too expensive.
Lightning doesn't strike the ocean as much as land, but when it does,it spreads out over the water, which acts as a conductor. It can hit boats that are nearby, and electrocute fish that are near the surface. If you're at the beach and hear thunder or see lightning, get out of the water.
The electric current has to pass through your body to do you any harm, and the conducting sea water will carry a good deal of the current around your body. You are at much greater risk if you are protruding above the water in a boat or on a windsurf board, as I once was during a lightning storm in Australia.
Lightning usually strikes an aircraft on the front side of the plane's cockpit. The edge of the cockpit window is a typical point of impact. The aluminium fuselage of the aircraft conducts electricity well, and due to that, the lightning discharge does not affect the inside of the aircraft.
Ice is Critical to the Lightning Process
The collision of ice and water particles causes separation of the positive and negative electric charges in the particles. Positive charged ice particles tend to collect in the upper parts of the storm, with negative charged particles in the middle and lower parts of the storm.
According to data from the Florida Museum of Natural History, you have a 1 in 79,746 chance of dying from a bolt of lightning. This statistic is quite shocking compared to a 1 in 3,748,067 chance of dying from a shark attack.
The warm air has water droplets. During the storm, the droplets and crystals bump together and move apart in the air. This rubbing makes static electrical charges in the clouds. Just like a battery, these clouds have a "plus" end and a "minus" end.
“Superbolts” are the most powerful lightning on Earth, with discharges so strong that they cannot be reproduced in the laboratory.
Because seawater is a good conductor, the remaining current penetrates hemispherically downward and fully dissipates less than 10 feet below the surface. It is believed that lethal current spreads horizontally only 20 feet from the position of strike impact.
The Eiffel tower and lightning have a long history. Since its birth in 1889, the monument has "attracted" lightning during storms – there are on average 5 impacts every year.
Although every lightning strike is different, damage to the antenna, electrical system, rear windshield, and tires is common. The heat from a lightning strike is sufficient to partially melt the antenna of a vehicle and can cause what seems like a small explosion of sparks as tiny fragments of metal melt and burn.
The short answer is, no. Swimming in a thunderstorm with lightning present is not safe, whether you're in the ocean or a pool. A body of water is the equivalent of putting a hairdryer in a bath, and because water conducts electricity, lightning is more likely to strike water than land.
When lightning strikes, most of electrical discharge occurs near the water's surface. Most fish swim below the surface and are unaffected. Although scientists don't know exactly just how deep the lightning discharge reaches in water, it's very dangerous to be swimming or boating during a thunderstorm.
As soon as you see lightning or hear thunder, get everyone out of the pool and away from pool structures (showers, changing rooms, filter/pump room, etc.). Indoors, in the largest nearby home or building, is the best place to wait out a storm.
The odds that one will be struck by lightning in the U.S. during one's lifetime are 1 in 15,300. On average, 270 people in the U.S. are struck per year, and only about 10 percent of that number die from the event. Around the world, approximately 2,000 people are struck by lightning every year.
Many dogs become very frightened with even the smallest storm. An upset pet may cause damage to your home or even run outside, where they can become lost or get struck by lightning.
In fact, there are only five well-documented cases of giraffes being killed by lightning between 1996 and 2010, including one incident of a giraffe being struck in front of Disney World visitors in 2003. According to zoologist Luis Villazon, this is about 0.003 deaths per thousand giraffes per year.
Animals that have a large separation between their front and back legs (such as cattle) are vulnerable to receive lightning strike injuries due to the dangerous potential differences that built up between those feet during lightning strike events.