People are warned not to use their telephone during a thunderstorm. I don't doubt you could be shocked doing this but could the voltage be sufficient to kill someone. I don't recall ever reading about an instance of this ACTUALLY resulting in a fatality. Consequently should I really be worried or is the possibility too remote?
2006-09-02 14:32:30 · 15 answers · asked by Andy S 6 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
as a past fire fighter ( non paid) I have been to houses where the lightning has came in on the phone line and hit the phone making a 1 to 2 foot hole in the wall where the phone used to be.
2006-09-02 14:38:44 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Of course the possibility can always exist but it would not get me to hang up on a caller.
There is little chance that lightening could travel along a wire routed through a building without first finding a much more attractive path to ground than the person holding the phone. Even the fact that it is laying next to a building structural member would send it directly to ground usually before it could enter the house.
Although the lighter gauge wire would probably burn up in this situation, this is of little consequence since it takes a mere 10 milliamps to kill a person. Telephone wire can carry about 2 or 3 amps.
2006-09-02 15:53:10 · answer #2 · answered by Buffertest 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The reason for low fatalities when being struck over the phone is probably the small size of the conduit in the phone equipment; all that voltage cannot go through such small wires without most of it changing in to heat, which is the reason for the burns and loud boom at the phone. It would be in general, less fatal to get burned by a specific amount of energy than to be electrocuted by that particular amount of energy. However, some electrical energy does reach you.
This is just a rapid-fire theory that I speculated for this.
2006-09-02 15:17:03 · answer #3 · answered by Peter R 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I heard a story years ago that a child was burnt answering the phone at his grandmothers place when the line outside was struck by lightning.. I think the boy survived.. Apparently it is a rare occurrence but can happen, best to just stay off the phone during bad thunderstorms with lightning to be on the safe side..
2006-09-02 14:43:37 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it can happen. A spike of voltage from a lightning strike can cause severe burns and can kill someone,
I had a great aunt that was working on a telephone switchboard during a storm when the system took a hit. She was severely injured and had permanent brain damage after that.
This took place many years ago, but it still can happen.
2006-09-02 14:40:46 · answer #5 · answered by Shaula 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/phone.asp
2006-09-02 14:51:28 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If lightening strikes the phone line outside and you are grounded. The current could travel through the receiver to your head and out the grounding point, possible killing you.
2006-09-02 14:51:35 · answer #7 · answered by doug1kid 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you can be "struck" by lightening through a land line phone. You can also be struck through plumbing. A friend of mine almost died standing next to her laundry tub when lightening struck her house and went through the pipes and electrocuted her. Same with a phone.
2006-09-02 14:40:21 · answer #8 · answered by Starscape 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have heard that you can be killed. Therefore I would not use my phone especially if there was a lot of lightnlng
2006-09-02 14:44:09 · answer #9 · answered by anthe 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yep, my Dad was struck by lightning through the phone, lost some of his hearing, that goodness he didn't die!
2006-09-02 14:42:28 · answer #10 · answered by withallthesethings 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋