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At any given moment, there are approximately 2,000 thunderstorms occurring in the world, resulting in about 100 lightning strikes every second. Of those, somewhere between 25 million and 30 million strike in the U.S. every year, killing 50 to 75 people and injuring up to 750. With so many people getting zapped, it makes sense that you wouldn’t want to tempt fate by strolling around with what could amount to a miniature lighting rod pressed up against your head. But just how dangerous are cell phones in thunderstorms?
The Less-Than Shocking Truth
But we were allowed to use cell phone when I worked the field in an oil refinary. We also can take cell phone in the gas staion but not be allowed to use it there. I have been curious about this question for a few years. I suppose it is kind of dangerous. I don't know how it is handled in your location.
Someone who’s chatting on a cell phone is just as likely to be struck by lightning as someone who isn’t. Contrary to the belief that the metal components of cell phones and portable media players make users of such devices targets in thunderstorms, lightning is most attracted to the tallest objects in a given area that provide the quickest and easiest path to the ground. The reason trees are so often struck is because they’re usually the tallest potential conductors in a given area. Other often-struck targets are mountains and hilltops, which, like tress, don’t have a scrap of metal in them. So the general rules of lightning safety, which say your odds of being struck increase if you’re the tallest object in the area, apply to everyone – regardless of whether they’re talking on cell phones.
Not Completely Danger-Free
While cell phones and other electronic devices might not attract lightning, there’s evidence that suggests they could make already-electrifying situations even worse. In 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine ran a story about a 37-year-old jogger who was thrown 8 feet when lightning struck a nearby tree. His injuries -- two thin, parallel paths of burns – began somewhere around the abdomen, separated at his sternum to travel up both sides of his neck and came to an explosive halt in each ear. His eardrums had ruptured. His jawbone was broken in four places and dislocated on both sides. Further investigation found the burns to be consistent with the wires connecting his earbuds to his MP3 player. Doctors believe the shock of the lightning strike, which is normally dissipated over the surface of a victim’s skin and down to the ground, was attracted by the MP3 player’s metal parts, which channeled the bulk of its jolt. So, while a cell phone won’t increase your chances of getting struck by lightning, it could increase the severity of your injuries if you are.
Unsafe Phones
![Is Cell Phone Use At Gas Pump Dangerous Is Cell Phone Use At Gas Pump Dangerous](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125525225/123353370.jpg)
The idea that cell phones attract lightning came about some years ago as an urban legend, circulated on the Internet. Fears associated with the real possibility of being struck through a traditional home phone receiver have likely played a part in keeping the myth alive. As opposed to cell phones, which provide no direct grounding paths, the typical land line setup offers lightning exactly what it needs to complete a strike – tall telephone poles strung with conductive wires that venture right into the ground. A strong enough jolt could result in electrical discharge traveling through a line splitter, into individual homes and to one or more handsets. There are dozens of documented cases in which people have been killed in this manner.
Play It Safe
In spite of the facts, to say it’s safe to use a cell phone in a thunderstorm would be misleading – because it’s not safe to be in a thunderstorm. If you’re caught in one, make sure you’re not on high ground and don’t stand in an open space – and don’t take shelter under an object that’s likely to be struck, either. Stay away from obvious conductors, such as water, metal sheds, railings, fences and bleachers. The interiors of vehicles are generally safe because, if struck, the jolt is generally dissipated across the metallic body and down to the ground – so don’t touch or lean on the door when driving in a thunderstorm. The safest place, of course, is in your home. Given the potential danger associated with using a landline phone when lightning is present, that’s when talking on your cell phone could actually be safer.
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I recently noticed the fine-print warning at the gas pump about the risk of fire from static electricity sparks. How serious is this? – Tatum in Campbell River, B.C.
You're probably more likely to be struck by lightning, but in certain circumstances, the static electricity you carry out of your car can ignite gasoline vapours at the pump.
'When you exit the car, first of all you're going to open your door, and when you touch the door you're no longer charged,' says Bob Renkes, executive vice-president at the Petroleum Equipment Institute in Tulsa, Okla.
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'Then you're probably going to touch the nozzle to get it out of the boot. You may use a credit card, you're going to touch that, too. Usually there's a door on your car that gets you to the fill cap, and you're going to touch the cap. So you have seven or eight times when you'll dissipate your static electricity – and all it takes is once. So we never have a problem when we initially fuel.'
Renkes, who began investigating fires during refuelling 11 years ago, found the real risk is for motorists who re-enter their vehicle once the fuelling process has begun.
'These people are sitting in their car and then pivoting 90 degrees to the left and popping out without touching something. So fuelling is going on, you're in your car, you move around – you're checking on your child, getting out of the cold, checking the odometer reading, or returning a credit card to a purse,' says Renkes.
'So they're sitting in the car, they generate static, they pop out again, they haven't dissipated their static, and they touch their nozzle. As gasoline goes in, the vapours come out of the fill pipe, so you have a source of ignition when your static discharges from your hand to the nozzle – exactly where the vapours are coming out of the fill pipe. So it does happen,' says Renkes.
An eye-opening example of this can be seen at pei.org/static, in footage from a gas station surveillance camera.
The technology in newer vehicles, however, lessens this potential risk.
'In the old days you used to say, 'Boy, I love the smell of gasoline' whenever you refuelled. You don't have that anymore. You can't smell the vapours because they're not coming out. Newer cars have what's called an onboard vapour recovery system, which pushes the vapours to the engine component where they're stored in a carbon canister and burned when the car goes on. If you have onboard vapour recovery, you don't have the vapours coming out of the fill port. Instead of being pushed out of the gasoline tank, they're pushed to the engine compartment. But if you have an older car without vapour recovery, in colder climates where it's dry, you can still have static discharge. So our rule is: don't get back in your car while refuelling. If you must, touch a piece of metal away from the filling port before you touch the nozzle,' says Renkes.
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Again, it's extremely rare, but if a fire does occur while refuelling, resist the temptation to remove the nozzle from your vehicle. Rather, step away and the attendant will shut off the pumps using emergency controls.
Send your automotive maintenance and repair questions to [email protected]
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