Steve/sewell
Posts: 783
Joined: 1/23/2010 Status: offline
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Bob sorry I missed this post when it was fresh,a great story good pictures thanks for compiling all of it A little info on water as a conducter of electricity. The electricity from the lightning strike is quickly dispersed. During a lightning strike into a lake like yours some of the water is split into oxygen and hydrogen, though likely not much, based on the amount of time it would be exposed to the lightning bolt. Have you ever thought about how lightning, and any other spark, is jagged in look? Not in a straight line? It takes the path of least resistance, which is part of how lightning "chooses" where to strike. Once it comes in contact with a body of water, it may in fact be similar to a ball, but in a way, it is different. It will be following multiple paths of least resistance, in all directions, basically dissipating. Meaning, if you had been closer to where the lightning had struck, you would have felt quite a bit more. Actually, pure water is a very poor conductor (it's a pretty good insulator). It's the dissolved salts (ions) that make water conductive. What usually happens when you put some electrodes into salty water and run current through it, is that the negative ions will worm there way quickley toward the anode while at the same time the positive toward the cathode. There the ions acquire and surrender electrons and cease to be ions (they precipitate out of the solution, typically right on and into the electrodes.)Actually the electricity isn't traveling through the water the way electrons flow through a wire; instead the movable precipitatable ions provide a temporary simulation of a link between the electrodes. As the ions continue to precipitate, the salinity of the water in the local region dwindles and the amount of conducted current becomes less and less.I imagine when lightning hits water it leaves in its wake trails of de-ionized suspended particles. Much like a fireworks rocket leaves smoke trails in the air after it bursts. The trails then get smeared out by currents and brownian motion. Again great story everyone.There are a ton of lakes here in Salem and Gloucester County New Jersey where a lot of early glass works were located I dont know if any were ever investigated through a dive. I love and respect all facets of the weather.Signed The drunken stupor weatherman Steve/sewell
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