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General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Tara Elliott on 06/05/2010 12:30:03

Title: Would you feel lightning strike a house?
Post by: Tara Elliott on 06/05/2010 12:30:03

Tara Elliott  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
Hi,

I was woken up last night by the loud sound of thunder and I swear that I felt the house shake.   We live on the top (third) floor of a condo complex with a courtyard in the back. Is it possible to feel lightning strike the house?  It wasn't like the walls were shaking continuously or something, just a couple seconds worth of movement. 

My husband does not believe me since he slept through this.  He swears I was dreaming.  Stupid question?

Thanks!
Tara Elliott

What do you think?

Title: Would you feel lightning strike a house?
Post by: imatfaal on 06/05/2010 17:32:54

Could it have been an earthquake?  My sister-in-law woke up in exactly same scenario and my brother slept throughout - when they switched the local news on in the evening it turned out to have been an earthquake.  This might be ordinary in some parts of the world, but this was in Leeds, Yorkshire! 

http://tsunami.geo.ed.ac.uk/local-bin/quakes/mapscript/demo_run.pl

have a look at this website at edinburgh university and see if you were near any of these when you got woken up.

Matthew

Title: Would you feel lightning strike a house?
Post by: Bored chemist on 06/05/2010 19:29:21

Once when I was at work, lightning struck a nearby building and the thunder shook our building. I am sure you would feel it if it stuck the building you were in.

Title: Would you feel lightning strike a house?
Post by: Geezer on 06/05/2010 19:49:39

The air pressure wave created by the lightning is quite large. It might actually be worse if it does not strike the builing you are in, but strikes something near by.

I was lying in bed one day when lightning struck the house across the street (and set it on fire). I'm pretty sure our entire house shook.

Title: Would you feel lightning strike a house?
Post by: Tara Elliott on 08/05/2010 19:19:16

Thanks everyone!  Matthew- thanks for directing me to that website.  I looked, and it definitely was not an earthquake.  People were talking about how bad the thunder/lightning was the next day, so I assume that is what I felt.  I had no idea it could actually shake the building like that!  Not sure if it actually struck our building or something near by, but either way, I was not dreaming.   Thanks again! 

Title: Would you feel lightning strike a house?
Post by: thedoc on 11/05/2010 17:40:06

Go to the podcast page. (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/podcasts/show/2010.05.09/)
or [chapter podcast=2579 track=10.05.09/Naked_Scientists_Show_10.05.09_6228.mp3](https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenakedscientists.com%2FHTML%2Ftypo3conf%2Fext%2Fnaksci_podcast%2Fgnome-settings-sound.gif&hash=f2b0d108dc173aeaa367f8db2e2171bd) Listen to the Answer Now[/chapter] or [download as MP3] (http://nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/split_individual/10.05.09/Naked_Scientists_Show_10.05.09_6228.mp3)