Posted on 08/16/2007 1:37:50 PM PDT by xjcsa
YORK - Flip-flops and faith.
Without those two things, Marie Drackert says, she wouldn't be alive today.
Drackert was sitting in her York County home July 29, watching the weather on television, when a bolt of lightning came down her chimney and out through her fireplace, frying appliances and sending a jolt of electricity through her body.
She believes the rubber in her flip-flops kept her insulated from the strike. Her faith kept her going.
"I told my son I'm going to bronze those flip-flops," she said. "I swear."
(Excerpt) Read more at dailypress.com ...
Thus ruining their insulating properties. Duh.
John Kerry saved someone?
my mom always had us put on our sneakers inside the house during thunderstorms. Some say it’s an old wives tale...
I think I’d keep my flip flops rubberized just in case.
Her toaster is toast!
Lucky crackpot.
I guess she’s lucky that she selected the flip-flops that are dielectric insulators good for 50,000 volt airborne electrical discharges.
It welded his zipper together.
It's an old wives tale. This woman's flip flops did nothing for her IMHO; you'll note she was still shocked. Lightning has too much power behind it to be bothered by a thin layer of rubber; after all it's already traveled through thousands of feet (sometimes several miles) of insulation (air) before it hits ground.
Oops. I meant 100 million volts.
“I felt the earth move under my feet,”
She out to write a song about her experience.
I was wondering how many posts that would take...and I'm impressed.
Exactly.
She believes the rubber in her flip-flops kept her insulated from the strike.
Does anyone else see the contradiction here?
Of course it is!
Many people think that a car is such a safe place to be because of the big rubber tires. In fact, that's not true.
It's true that a car is a safe place to be in a thunderstorm, but the tires have nothing to do with it.
The steel structure of the car acts as a "Faraday Cage" and the lightning does not hurt those inside the car.
Don't get struck in a convertible.
There was a case a few years ago where some people were struck by lightning while driving in a pickup truck. The people in the cab were fine, those in the back were all killed.
Tires don't help.
Someone had to do it.
lol One of Carol King’s good ones
Wasn’t there a woman a year or two ago who was struck by lightning, but her insulated footwear prevented the charge from exiting through her legs? The bolt instead left through her, um, hind parts, so it was painful, but not fatal.
I seriously doubt it. If she was standing, the air between her rear and the ground is a far more effective insulator than the rubber in her shoes; the difference is too marginal to matter at that level of energy.
One out of two lightning bolts starts from here and goes there and vice versa. It’s a polarity thing.
I’m aware of that, but that has nothing to do with a thin layer of rubber stopping a lightning bolt capable of bridging miles of air.
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