Is Your IPod a Lightning Rod?
Monday July 16, 2007
A reader writes: "I believe we are seeing the start of a new urban legend here. Yesterday morning I was reading a news article on the cbc.ca Website about a person in B.C. Canada in 2005 being struck by lightning while jogging. ...Within minutes after reading this I received an email warning of how a man in Toronto was hit by lightning because he was wearing an iPod and that everyone should not use iPods for fear of being struck by lightning." Read more...(Image credit: C. Clark / NOAA Photo Library)
Comments
Regarding the lightning and iPod stories, it is claimed that wearing such devices does not increase the chances of being struck. However, the wearer’s situational awareness is reduced, and he may not hear the early claps of thunder that would otherwise cause him to seek shelter. I would suspect that the boy mowing the lawn was not doing so during a driving thunderstorm, but rather as it approached. Cell phones may have similar effects. Although they typically only block one ear from hearing outside noises, the user is distracted and focused on the conversation rather than the surroundings.
I speak with some experience, having been struck by lightning at a sports car race near Savannah about ten years ago. I did not see the approaching storm because it was overcast. The noise of the race cars drowned out any early warnings of thunder. I was trying to secure a shade canopy with additional rope when the bolt struck… I feel that I was “cheated” out of the chance to seek shelter by the combination of overcast and noise.
Even thogh the device will not draw lightening towards you, It provides a “contact” point for the electrical charge. People with any type of hearing device like a hearing aide or a listening device, like an Ipod will experience more severe eardrum damage - if they are struck by the electrical charge. The devices do not increase the chances, but they do increase possible damage.
I know this is an urban legend site, and so some may not believe this, but I actually know the guy in the Vancouver article who was struck by the lightning. The lightning hit a tree top and him, and the current traveled down the iPod wires and exploded the iPod itself. It left burn marks down his chest where the wires were. The impact also broke his jaw and he lost a lot of teeth.
He’s alright, though it kind of stinks because he’s a musician and lost a good deal of his hearing.
Total bogus. It’s a complete coincidence. Things like this happen all the time; it has nothing to do with the iPod.