Confused about cell phones and lightning

[livingdeb]

Reuters has an article warning cell phone users about lightning.

Okay, I know that during lightning storms you should stay away from big metal things (like metal pipes and golf clubs) and from tall things (like trees and telephone poles), but I never would have guessed cell phones.

Hanging out near big metal things and tall things makes it more likely that lightning will strike you, but this cell phone thing is different. They explain:

Esprit and other doctors at the hospital added in a letter to the British Medical Journal that usually when someone is struck by lightning, the high resistance of the skin conducts the flash over the body in what is known as a flashover.

But if a metal object, such as a phone, is in contact with the skin it disrupts the flashover and increases the odds of internal injuries and death.

Interesting. Except isn't my cell phone made mostly of plastic? Does holding a small plastic-coated metal thing really disrupt flashover?

What about metal jewelry? Small plastic-coated metal barettes? Shoe grommets?

My umbrella handle is definately a plastic-coated metal thing, with more metal than a cell phone.

The more I try to google for more information, the more I keep seeing the same article over and over and over. Which makes me think this is all a crock.

But I suppose if you're out in a lightning storm, and you start to feel that tingling sensation, then once you've crouched down or flattened yourself on the ground as far from tall and metal things as you can get, then, if you have extra time, you could start removing your watch and phone and stuff. You know, just to give yourself something to do other than panic.

Comments

[indigo-rose99.livejournal.com]

*laugh* Do most of us flatten ourselves and panic? In a tornado, sure, but lightening storms? I thought the standard practice was to point at the pretty lights and say "ooooooh..."

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

That's from under the awning or behind the sliding glass doors or inside the car. If you're walking across a field, and the lightning gets closer and closer, you might get a little worried.

Ever since lightning struck the tree next to my house, I get a little worried even when I'm inside if I hear lightning striking very close. I breathe a sigh of relief when I hear the storm moving along on the other side of me.

Of course when I was a kid I heard all these emergency tactics about "electrical storms," which sounded very scary, but then when I found out they just meant regular storms, I was kind of disgusted.