Tony Raven said:Crouch in a low spot, feet close together and balancing on your
toes, head down and covered with hands together and elbows in
touching the knees. Then pray.
Quoted message said:Most people are not killed by a direct lightning strike but by the
potential difference created in the ground by the currents flowing
outward from the strike - hence feet together to stop you getting
electrocuted by the voltage between you feet and tip toes to
minimise the contact area.
This is why you shouldn't shelter under trees. The tree, being tall,
provides a good conducting path for the lighting to ground, where the
charge dissipates over a wide area, causing a significant voltage
between points at different distances from the tree.
Ditto, if you are in mountains, don't shelter in cave mouths - the
charge runs down the wet rock, and then takes the easy path through
your body, rather than running all round the dry rock at the back of
the cave.
[Ref: Mountaincraft and Leadership, Langmuir, 1984]
Quoted message said:The hands over the head minimise the head damage in a direct strike
by directing the current down the arms into the legs and the ground
avoiding the head and trunk where the damage is more likely to be
fatal.
To be *really* safe, you should balance on your right foot, with your
right hand on top of your left on your head, to keep the current
down the right side of your body, away from your heart :-^
--
Alan J. Wylie http://www.wylie.me.uk/
"Perfection [in design] is achieved not when there is nothing left to add,
but rather when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
