# The introduction of a lightning physicist **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459 "2021-04-21T15:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/41 "2021-04-22T18:36:25Z")
This calls for a song: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LyRqdzF8swY/hqdefault.jpg "Lou Christie - Lightnin' Strikes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyRqdzF8swY) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/42 "2021-04-22T18:38:18Z")
Have you ever used a one-iron? ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/43 "2021-04-22T18:55:44Z")
> [@Deeg](#): > > Do you ever use the word " **lightninging**"? …and what other slang words are used in the lightning business? T&L for Thunder & Lightning? Also, as a little kid were you scared of lightning or did you like it? ---
**Author:** ![GeneralTang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@GeneralTang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeneralTang)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/44 "2021-04-22T19:50:09Z")
Yes, a TGF could be lethal. Not sure how close you’d need to be, probably very close, like around 100 m. ---
**Author:** ![GeneralTang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@GeneralTang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeneralTang)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/45 "2021-04-22T19:51:20Z")
No. and now I’m disappointed in myself for not doing it… I promise to try to make this a thing ---
**Author:** ![GeneralTang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@GeneralTang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeneralTang)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/46 "2021-04-22T19:51:43Z")
I don’t even know what this is. Is this a golf thing? ---
**Author:** ![GeneralTang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@GeneralTang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeneralTang)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/47 "2021-04-22T19:52:19Z")
I prefer “The Thunder Rolls” by Garth Brooks myself ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/48 "2021-04-22T19:55:38Z")
My work here is done. ---
**Author:** ![GeneralTang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/97f17d/32.png) [@GeneralTang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GeneralTang)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/49 "2021-04-22T19:56:39Z")
Loved it. I spent my childhood making devices that made sparks (including a few Tesla coils). When I finally announced to my friends and family that I’m getting a PhD in lightning they just looked at me and asked “Didn’t we already know that?” Slang words in the field… I can’t think of any really at the moment (other than technical terms that I wouldn’t really consider slang). There does tend to be a lot of slang borrowed from electrical engineering, like “scope” for oscilloscope… ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/50 "2021-04-22T20:21:22Z")
It’s an old golf joke - a one iron is notoriously hard to use, so during a thunderstorm, a golfer stands in the middle of the fairway holding up his one iron because “Even God couldn’t hit a one iron” ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/51 "2021-04-22T20:44:40Z")
Wait, you don’t have any slang that involves “crispy” or “fried”?! Maybe “cajun”? Looks like I’m back on the job! ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/52 "2021-04-22T21:02:33Z")
Do you have numbers as to the intensity and frequency band for these TGF? Worked an nuclear power plant, and of course, to gain entry into a radiation protection area, your required to wear dosimeters during you visit. And, speaking from personal experience, they (the utility) really, really don’t like it if you exceed allowable dosage during a visit (and that’s the administrative limit; the NRC is always greater than that–but exceed that dosage and the C-level management gets involved.) If the radiation is that intense at 3 km, it suggests to me that perhaps airliners are more prone to some radiation exposure around thunderstorms, than is the assumed background cosmic radiation. But how much and how often? Makes me wonder about nearby lighting strikes when I’m working at the research stations in the White Mountains of California (3.1 km & 3.8 km MSL) when the monsoons kick in during the summer. These are things that are worth inquiring about. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459/53 "2021-04-22T23:32:25Z")
OK so like, golf lightning jokes. This man is playing golf with a nun. He misses a short putt and he shouts “Dammit, I missed!” The nun says, “If you keep swearing like that, God will strike you down with lightning.” On the next green the man misses another putt and again he shouts, “Dammit, I missed!” Just then dark clouds start gathering above them and a bolt of lightning shoots down from the sky…hitting the nun and killing her. And a booming voice is heard from the clouds: “Dammit, I missed!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-introduction-of-a-lightning-physicist/940459.md?page=2)