The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-07-11


! the vogue for nature to tear per-
fectly good gray sky to pieces with
long yellow stabs Of lightning, and
| break up a summer evening with
crashes of thunder, it is natural for
layman to seek the experts for L
few pointers about lodging the bolts.
1t takes ony a few chats With the
electrical specialists to discover that
| their ideas on the subject are any
| thing but alike. If there were such
thing as a lightning congress, It
would never get a majority vote on
anything.
! They say practically the same thing
as to the cause of lightning, its nature,
and how it jumps from cloud TO earth.
They echo each other with such words
as 'ionized air. and negatively
charged water PARTICLES"
But these are not the things that
! concern the man that walketh down
Main street with an umbrella up, or
! drives his automobile to the top of a
| hill, when the skies are Pickering.
| What he wants to know, for instance,
! is whether the end of one of these
! nasty bright yellow stabs is more like
ly TO nip hi mon top of the court house
| or in his cellar. An it is not quieting
to hear the experts beat around the
bush and contradict each other.
Science BaffIed.
| Yet it is not fair to be disappointed
when science cannot tell where a fifty
billion volt column of fire, a mile or
more in height lis going to strike.
| That column takes only about one
ten thousand of a second to make up
its mind. So it wouldn't do much good
to know what it had chosen, once il
has got started.
! However, people keep on asking
questions, and they feel they are en-.
titled to something in the way OF
definite information. Here are a few
results of conversations with scien-
lists who have given thought to the
subject:
GA baby was killed the other day
sleeping in a metal crib on a porch
Is it dangerous for babies to sleep in
metal cribs on porches?
One Answer.-The metal probably
had nothing to do with it, but the
chances would have been better in
the house.
Another Answer-The metal crit
should have acted as a wire cage
which was suggested by Clerk Max
well as the best protection against
lightning. If the crib had been thor
oughly grounded, the lightning would
have been conducted away harm
lessly.
Still Another Answer-The light
| MI ,trflv Of hot N1s,. IL
termined by deeper causes, of which
we know little as yet. The baby just
happened to be there.
Q.-Golf players have been struck
while on the links. Was it due to the
metal clubs they carried?
j One Answer-The metal club haC
nothing to do with it. That is abso
lutely insignificant in the enormous
forces involved
Another Answer.-A man ought tt
know enough not to play golf in g
thunderstorm.
Q.-Is there any use in closing win
dows in a thunderstorm?
One Answer-If the lightning were
going to strike there, it would do nj
good. What can a window pane DE-
against a force which can knock dowr
a stone wall?
Another Answer.-Closing the win
dow would probably help. An expert
ment has shown that a spark, leaping
across a spark gap, which resembles
lightning, will be DETECTED to a burn
ing candle set near by, because ho
air is better conductor than cold.
the air in the house were warmer thar
outside, the lightning might be defect
ed toward the window if it were open
Q.-Is it dangerous to telephone
. during a storm?
One Answer.-In a city where thu
wires are under ground there is NJ
danger at all. Where wires are struns
about ground, as in the country, there
is danger.
Another Answer. - The telephone
girls stick to the switchboard al
through storms. The telephones hav,
lightning arrestors, which proven
any sudden great charge from reach
! ing the receiver.
The keynote of it all, in the opinion
of the experts, seems to be that in tn,
comings and goings of lightning MAJ
plays a small part.
Safety Is Negligible
Many of the precautions which 1
mas become habit to take are borl
OF blind instinct, that sees safety il
obvious things, where there is reall,
no safety at all But from the vague
ness of expert opinion few general
ties emerge, which offer some consola
| ton as being the best possible unde
the conditions.
1t is generally conceded that t,
: seek refuge under tree is more dan
) gerous than to stay out in the open
) Some trees are more often strucl
than others and one scientist des
cribes the sycamore tree as the mos
; susceptible of all But the man VIII
considers himself safe under an oal
because there is a sycamore a few
} yards away, is putting a sublime faitl
; in statistics
, City jewellers are safer than cour
try folks The great high masses o