(TFT) Lightning

["Jay Carlisle" <confused3141@hotmail.com>]

Sometimes your doing research into one thing and KAPOW there's something 
else and ya juss gotsta share!

On Lightning

<<Only flash floods and river floods cause more weather-related deaths. But 
according to Dr. Elisabeth Gourbière of the Electricité de France, Service 
des Etudes Médicales, only 20 percent of lightning victims are immediately 
struck dead.

Lightning injuries are not the same as electrical shocks. For one thing, the 
contact voltage of a typical industrial electrical shock is 20 to 63 
kilovolts, while a lightning strike delivers about 300 kilovolts.

Industrial shocks rarely last longer than half a second (500 milliseconds) 
because a circuit breaker opens or the person is thrown far from the live 
conductor. Lightning strikes have an even shorter duration, only lasting up 
to a few milliseconds. Most of the current from a lightning strike passes 
over the surface of the body in a process called "external flashover."

Both industrial shocks and lightning strikes result in deep burns at point 
of contact - for industry the points of contact are usually on the upper 
limbs, hands and wrists, while for lightning they are mostly on the head, 
neck and shoulders. Industrial shock victims sometimes exhibit deep tissue 
destruction along the entire current path, while lightning victims? burns 
seem to center at the entry and exit points. Both industrial shock and 
lightning victims may be injured from falling down or being thrown, and the 
leading cause of immediate death for both is cardiac or cardiopulmonary 
arrest.

If you survive a shock, you still have to deal with the consequences of the 
electrical burns. Industrial shock burns can lead to kidney failure, 
infection, muscle and tissue damage, or amputation.



Most Typical Disorders Associated with Lightning Strikes


(from "Lightning Injuries to Humans in France" by Dr. Elisabeth Gourbière of 
the Electricité de France, Service des Etudes Médicales)

Lightning deaths (~20%)
-Asystole/Ventricular fibrillation
-Inhibition of brainstem respiratory centers
-Multi-system failure (delayed death)

Cardio-pulmonary injuries
-Arrhythmias - Arterial pressure changes
-Electrocardiographic changes
-Myocardial damages (infarction)
-Cardiac dysfunction
-Pulmonary edema - Respiratory distress syndrome

Neurologic/psychiatric injuries
-Loss of consciousness/coma
-Amnesia/Anxiety/Confusion/Aphasia/Seizures
-Electroencephalographic abnormalities
-Brain/Cerebellum damages
-Numbness/Weakness in limbs/Partial or complete (but temporary) paralysis
-Neuropathy/Pain syndromes
-Spinal cord injury/Parkinsonism
-Sleep and memory disorders/Concentration
disturbances/Irritability/Depression/Various other disturbances such as 
headaches, tiring easily, lightning storm phobia, etc.
-Post traumatic Stress Disorder

Burns and Cutaneous marking
-Small, deep entry/exit points (typical)
-Contact, metal chain heating (typical)
-Superficial linear
-Flash
-Lichtenberg figures (arborescent, fern-like markings):pathognomonic(on 
trunk, arms, shoulders)

Clothing, shoes
-Exploded off, torn off, shredded, singed?

Blunt traumas (explosion)
-Contusion, internal hemorrhage (brain, lungs, liver, intestine?)
-(rarely) Fractures (skull, cervical spinal column, extremities?)

Auditory and ocular injuries
-Tympanic membrane ruptured (typical)
-Deafness/Tinnitus/Vertigo
-Transient blindness/Photophobia-Conjunctivitis - Corneal damage
-Retinal abnormalities (macular hole) - optic neuritis
-Cataract

"Lightning injuries are varied and take many different forms. The most 
dangerous (and possibly fatal) immediate complications are cardiovascular 
and neurologic. It must be kept in mind that only immediate and effective 
cardiorespiratory resuscitation (started by rescuers), followed as soon as 
possible by emergency medical treatment, can save victims who are in 
cardiopulmonary arrest, or avert the serious consequences of cerebral 
hypoxia. Some victims remain in a coma despite intensive resuscitation and 
die of secondary causes including hemorrhages and multiple lesions 
(encephalic, cardiac, pulmonary, intra-abdominal)."


Just thought someone would care.

Jay
"Clothing, shoes
-Exploded off, torn off, shredded, singed? "

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