# Lightning enlightening
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 5, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892 "2001-09-05T17:15:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2001, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892/1 "2001-09-05T17:15:37Z")
Okay, on the TV news last night, they had one of those stupid stories about things that no one really cares about.
This one was about a woman who got struck by lightning while talking on her home telephone. They showed the melted phone jack on the wall. They showed the scorch mark on the opposite wall where the lightning left the room. They even showed her CORDLESS handset. How can lightning possibly strike you while talking INSIDE on a CORDLESS telephone. I can see the lightning melting the phone’s base station, but coming through the handset? The lady described a blue bolt coming out of the mouthpiece, hitting her in the chin, and going out through the back of her head.
Is this lady for real? Can you really get struck by lightning while using a CORDLESS phone?
---
### Author:  [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892/2 "2001-09-05T17:27:26Z")
How did she see a blue bold coming out of the back of her head?
I have had a run in with lightening, maybe, sort of similiar. I was riding my bike when a tree I was passing got hit. I guess current was induced in my body via Faraday’s law. The short of it was a spark jumped from my thumb to the handle bars and burned a little hole in my thumb. Her arm to her head pose would have been a loop, and a varying B field through that loop would have induced a current.
Just a guess, however.
---
### Author:  [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2001, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892/3 "2001-09-05T17:30:19Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NotMrKnowItAll \*
> \*\*How did she see a blue bolt coming out of the back of her head?
> \*\*
I think someone else in the room saw it. I could be wrong about where the bolt exited her body.
---
### Author:  [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892/4 "2001-09-05T17:54:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Drum God \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by NotMrKnowItAll \*
> > \*\*How did she see a blue bolt coming out of the back of her head?
> > \*\*
>
> I think someone else in the room saw it. I could be wrong about where the bolt exited her body. \*\*
Whoever saw it filled in details with what they expected to see. It is the return stroke that is luminous, and it travels at 80K kilometers/sec. In truth, the lighting could have come from any direction.
[http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlux/lfacts.htm](http://home.earthlink.net/~jimlux/lfacts.htm)
---
### Author:  [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892/5 "2001-09-05T19:03:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Waverly \*
> In truth, the lighting could have come from any direction.
> \*\*
So the cordless phone had nothing to do with it? I thought that talking on a phone during an electrical storm could be dangerous because the lightning could strike an exposed pole and travel down the wire through the telephone and handset, thereby injuring the phone user. A cordless phone would seem to alleviate this problem since the phone is not physically connected to anything. Of course, if you used the phone outside, this little antenna sticking above your head might cause a problem…:eek:
---
### Author:  [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightning-enlightening/79892/6 "2001-09-05T19:18:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _From the National Weather Service ( [http://205.156.54.206/er/gyx/Ltngpn04.txt](http://205.156.54.206/er/gyx/Ltngpn04.txt) )_:
> Compared to talking on standard phone (corded), the cordless
> phone is much less of a hazard. However, there is the risk of being
> struck by lightning during the moment of contact when the phone is
> being removed from the cradle. In addition, the phone should only be
> used in a safe place; the phone’s antenna presents an increased hazard
> if used outside, near a window, or near electrical conductors in the
> home.
We don’t know enough detail to suppose what factors were involved besides the phone, but I suspect something else was going on.