Shocking! IPod + Lightning Equals Trouble

M

Doctors writing in the New England Journal of Medicine today warned that using a portable music player such as an Apple Inc. iPod outdoors when lightning threatens can be dangerous.
Physicians at Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, cited a 2005 incident where a 35-year-old man was brought into the emergency ward after being struck by lightning while jogging as he listened to his iPod. Along with second-degree burns on his chest and left leg, the man had two burns along the front of this chest and neck, then to the sides of his face.
The burns, said the doctors, "correspond[ed] to the positions of his earphones at the time of the lightning strike." Both of the man's eardrums were ruptured, they added, and his jaw was fractured.

Source

marulez said:
Doctors writing in the New England Journal of Medicine today warned that using a portable music player such as an Apple Inc. iPod outdoors when lightning threatens can be dangerous.

Physicians at Vancouver General Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, cited a 2005 incident where a 35-year-old man was brought into the emergency ward after being struck by lightning while jogging as he listened to his iPod. Along with second-degree burns on his chest and left leg, the man had two burns along the front of this chest and neck, then to the sides of his face.
The burns, said the doctors, "correspond[ed] to the positions of his earphones at the time of the lightning strike." Both of the man's eardrums were ruptured, they added, and his jaw was fractured.
Source

LOL, seems like the guy learnt a lesson, never f**k with nature. Who in the world would go jogging when it's lighting? Maybe, the music was too loud that he didn't hear all the thuder and lighting coming before it!!

I hate IPod, but I have to tell you that this is not a problem that's particular to the IPod. It's absolutely dangerous to go out while lighting and you would add to the danger if you have any metallic parts attached to your body(even an ear-ring, bracelet, necklace). So, attaching metal to your body increases the risk of lighting hitting you, but there is still good news, even if lighting hits you, actually having a metal attached to your body could save your life!!

Because it hits on the metal and the charge is used up in melting the metal rather than passing though your body to the ground although a fraction of it does! So, I guess you should change the heading and not give illogical negative publicity to the IPod because the case is the same even if it's any other player or any other metallic body for that matter! Too bad that the guy had to be hit this way, but I guess, he has atleast learned his lesson to be aware of his surroundings and not to go out jogging when it's lighting!

ishock

and we indians say ki jis ke sir par do bhawar hota hai bizali us par girti hai. WAT A CRAP THING WE BELIEVE

good news for rumor mongers.

He must be listening Hawa hawai song "Bijli ki raani main hoon aayi".

S

There was a similar article in The Hindu today titled "Digital Age Perils" - Heres the link *www.hindu.com/2007/07/13/stories/2007071361442400.htm

As mentioned earlier, this is not particular to Ipod... And there are warning messages not to use in rain provided in manuals of Ipods and some other music players (who reads them anyway?)

Arun

no he was listenin to "BABUJI JARA DHIRE CHALO ......... BIJILI GIRI RE BIJILI GIRI"

lol.

He aint going to listen to anymore music

coz hez deaf :-?

Shocking, Positively shocking.

wow! how could ipod attract lightning. it seems to defy physics

xbonez said:
wow! how could ipod attract lightning. it seems to defy physics

Like mentioned before, its not just the IPod, any metallic source can very well attract lightning especially electrically charged appliances, but that could also be saving your life in several cases.

Vishal Gupta said:
He must be listening Hawa hawai song "Bijli ki raani main hoon aayi".

one small correction -
it's "Bijli girane main hoon aayi, kehte hai mujhko .."

S

Help~Is~Here said:
Like mentioned before, its not just the IPod, any metallic source can very well attract lightning especially electrically charged appliances, but that could also be saving your life in several cases.

And it is not that the appliance attracts lightning... From The Hindu article link posted by me earlier

Contrary to some urban legends and media reports, electronic devices do not attract lightning the way a tall tree or a lightning rod does.

“It’s going to hit where it’s going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity,” said Dr. Mary Ann Cooper of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an ER doctor at University of Illinois Medical Centre in Chicago.

Arun

sakumar79 said:
And it is not that the appliance attracts lightning... From The Hindu article link posted by me earlier
Arun

I didn't literally mean that it will attract, what it implied was, imagine this: you are in an open field, no trees, ok, let's say couple of trees here and there, but you are a good 200mt away from them, and you're listening to your ipod, or wearing a set of jewellery, Is there a better chance that the lightning is going to just hit the ground or hit a better conductor of electricity, it will certainly hit the ipod/jewellery, it's not that it's going to attract lightning to it, but in an open field, it's always going to hit the best conductor, in this case which turns out to be an ipod/jewellery..