Lightening hitting the ocean - what happens?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Lightening hitting the ocean - what happens?

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:43:43 PM EDT

Alright, so this is kind of a lame question but it's late, I'm bored, this question popped into my head, and we all know there is always an answer for any question from this site. What happens when there's a thunderstorm in the open ocean and lightening hits the water? Since sea water is a pretty good conductor given the high salt content, does a large part of the ocean become electrified for a brief time (and in turn killing a lot of fish)? Does the electricity, >50 million volts and >100 thousand Amps, just dissipate quickly? What about a ship that's a few miles away from where the bolt hits the water?

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:44:42 PM EDT

[#1]

I've seen it, never really gave it much of a thought though

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:47:49 PM EDT

[#2]

Thought about this, but never enough to ask. Now I'm anxiously awaiting an answer.

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:48:26 PM EDT

[#3]

Where do you think Electric Eels come from?

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:52:35 PM EDT

[#4]

tag

Excellent question.

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:53:53 PM EDT

[#5]

well i know very little of electricty but my guess (from my limited exposure in physics class) is that since obviously this is salt water, it is conductive, and there are several paths for the current to take, i doubt anything except in the VERY close immediate area would be harmed because the electricity is dispersed through a large area. This is just a wild ass guess, and electricians correct me if im wrong.

Posted: 1/8/2005 11:54:52 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
Where do you think Electric Eels come from?

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:05:12 AM EDT

[#7]

near instant dissipation, significant transfer to heat, short lived plasma cloud...

Thats my guess.

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:06:07 AM EDT

[#8]

www.lightningstorm.com/tux/jsp/faq/index.jsp

From the above website:

Question: Is marine life killed or injured when lightning strikes in an ocean?
When lightning hits open water, the current is able to travel through the water quite well. How far away the dangerous current travels is not known, but it's probably on the order of tens of yards. At and very near the strike point--within a few yards--current enters the body of a living organization, resulting in injury or death. At greater distances, the effects are less, so that the current might stun an organism but not kill it. There are few reports of massive fish kills. It may be that there are not too many fish in any single volume in the affected water, they may recover quickly, or maybe larger fish eat the incapacitated fish.

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:06:08 AM EDT

[#9]

I recently read something about this but I can't remember where.

Surprisingly the energy of the bolt doesn't penetrate very deep below the surface at all (maybe a couple of feet *directly* below the strike point).

Most of the energy spreads across the surface of teh water so unless the fish happens to be breaking the surface they pretty much wouldn't notice.
Given that it's a surface effect I would imagine the current begins to drop rapidly (square root of the distance maybe?) as it moves away from the strike point so it probably drops off to very low levels within a half mile or so).

Please do some testing and report back if I'm right.

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:12:08 AM EDT

[#10]

Well... I know that electricity pases only on the surface of water.

and Saltwater may be a good conductor of electricity but it's not the best, a fare share of teh electricity is lost to the saltwater.

I would say you would get an electrified surface of the water for a brief moment.

After being 15 feet from a lightning strike you tend to gain a new respect to nature's wrath.

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:14:51 AM EDT

[#11]

Good reason for fiberglass boats.

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:17:34 AM EDT

[#12]

It will create a MEGA Tsunami which will travel several hundred miles and be bigger than the tallest buildings in the world

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:19:24 AM EDT

[#13]

Only a few minutes and I have answers. I knew this would be resolved.

I suspected that the electricity traveled on the surface but for some reason didn't figure that most fish wouldn't be inches below the water.

It is interesting that the current doesn't travel very far and gets dissipated quickly.

Thanks guys.

Posted: 1/9/2005 12:19:59 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
It will create a MEGA Tsunami which will travel several hundred miles and be bigger than the tallest buildings in the world

Nope! Those are all Bush's fault.

Posted: 1/9/2005 7:53:06 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Quoted:
It will create a MEGA Tsunami which will travel several hundred miles and be bigger than the tallest buildings in the world

Nope! Those are all Bush's fault.

So is lightning.

Posted: 1/9/2005 8:01:44 AM EDT

[#16]

When I was on the beach in Florida the lifeguards made you get out of the water if they saw lightning or heard thunder.

Posted: 1/9/2005 9:09:05 AM EDT

[#17]

If your submerged in water wouldn't the potential difference in resistance be 0. WOuldn't it have the same effect as wearing a wire mesh suit that the linemen wear while working on high voltage power lines?

Posted: 1/9/2005 9:13:57 AM EDT

[#18]

I'd think the lightning would naturally follow the path of least resistance exemplifying the Faraday effect, taking the path of 0 resistance through the ocean rather than the path of greater resistance through the sea life.