Lightning Injuries
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Basics
Description
- Lightning is a discharge of energy that occurs cloud to cloud (90%) or cloud to ground (10%)
- Exposure to lightning:
- Brief duration (1–100 ms)
- Typically occurs during outdoor activity
- Highest incidence in summer months, between 3 and 6 PM
- Fatality rate of 8–10%
Etiology
- Mechanism of injury—electrical:
- Direct strike (5%)
- Contact potential (15–25%):
- Current passes through an object the victim is touching
- Side splash (20–30%):
- Current jumps from nearby object to the victim
- Step voltage, or ground potential (40–50%):
- Current moves through the ground surface and may injure multiple victims
- Current moves through hard-wired telephone lines, metallic pipes, or a structure's electrical equipment, causing lightning injury to victims indoors
- Upward streamer (10–15%):
- Negatively charged lightning strikes from a cloud and induces positive current from the ground to rise and meet it to complete the lightning channel
- Mechanism of injury—trauma:
- Barotraumas
- Blunt trauma:
- Muscle contractions can throw the victim and/or cause a fall
- Thermal burn
-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please log in or purchase a subscription --
Basics
Description
- Lightning is a discharge of energy that occurs cloud to cloud (90%) or cloud to ground (10%)
- Exposure to lightning:
- Brief duration (1–100 ms)
- Typically occurs during outdoor activity
- Highest incidence in summer months, between 3 and 6 PM
- Fatality rate of 8–10%
Etiology
- Mechanism of injury—electrical:
- Direct strike (5%)
- Contact potential (15–25%):
- Current passes through an object the victim is touching
- Side splash (20–30%):
- Current jumps from nearby object to the victim
- Step voltage, or ground potential (40–50%):
- Current moves through the ground surface and may injure multiple victims
- Current moves through hard-wired telephone lines, metallic pipes, or a structure's electrical equipment, causing lightning injury to victims indoors
- Upward streamer (10–15%):
- Negatively charged lightning strikes from a cloud and induces positive current from the ground to rise and meet it to complete the lightning channel
- Mechanism of injury—trauma:
- Barotraumas
- Blunt trauma:
- Muscle contractions can throw the victim and/or cause a fall
- Thermal burn
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