Re: [Phys-l] Don't wear underwired bras in a storm. Was: Re: cell phone lightning hazard?

["John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>]

My question is "how does he know that?"  Is this based on a true statistical
sample, or it just that people have made informal correlations between
injuries?  Are there any published studies where the injuries and the
location of all metal objects have been carefully correlated?

Then if there is a correlation what is the physical mechanism for the
injuries?  It sounds suspicious.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX
> As promised the report in the New Scientist.  -- partially from BMJ
> (Brit. Med. J.) 332, p 1513.
>
> http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19125585.200.html
>
> are not the only problem.  "People get burns from keys, watches, coins
> and even underwired bras," says Giles Harrison from the Meteorology
> Department at the University of reading, UK.
>
> As a hazard, it is probably not worth losing sleep over, however.
> Between 30 and 60 people are struck by lightning in the UK every year,
> with around three people killed.  "The chance of being killed by
> lightning in one year are about the same as your chances of winning the
> lottery in one week," says Harrison.  [issue 2558, 1 July 2006, p23]