Does lightning affect mobile phones and their users?
S. Shinu, Pathanapuram P.O. During rain and thunder storms it is advisable not to have contact with any metal parts, like water lines and window grills, telephone and TV cables, which are also exposed outside. This increases the risk of getting hit by the lightning. So it is better to avoid using a landline telephone during thunderstorms. Lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon in which a huge amount of electric charge gets transported from the charged clouds to the earth through the atmospheric air; damp air provides easy path because the water vapour in it can easily be ionised. That is why lightning strikes often during rain. The propensity of a lightning is enhanced with proximity of the cloud to the nearest point on earth, if a sharp conducting object is located at an elevated place. The lightning conductor is essentially such a device that directs the flow of charge along the conductor and saves the building from destruction by lightning. The landline telephone cable network provi
