Lightning - Tumblr Posts
Black and white filter? Film noir? Nope. Just rain. I was at camp and it just started started pouring and thundering and lightning. I got soaked!
The Sorcerer for the Paramount Roleplaying Game by Marc LaSpada
(C) 2016 John W. Sheldon
Paramount is a game of legendary action in a fantasy world. The Sorcerer wields the power of the elements and can bend the world to her whim with her thoughts, though she must be careful not to bend it so far that it snaps back.
A pair of t-shirts for the next year of the local tabletop gaming mini-convention.
The hosts really like appearing as genre characters, so here they are as magic space knights.
(This is not meant as an "um, actually" thing, more sharing some cool facts I know from an actual storm chaser and expanding on mentioned details)
The thing with lightning is that it's finicky. Yes, people have survived being struck- but it's all about how you're struck. There are three main types of strikes- side flash, ground strike, and direct strike (also conduction and streamers).
Side flash is when it hits something (ex. a tree or fence) and jumps to someone touching (conduction, usually with metal) or very close to the struck object (usually within half a meter / a few feet). This is why you should never stand under trees in a lightning storm! Staying inside a building or a fully enclosed metal vehicle with the windows up is safest, and you want to avoid trees, water, open fields, hilltops, metal objects (especially poles and fences), and small structures like huts and rain shelters. These strikes can be dangerous if the current goes through your heart, but aren't always deadly.
Ground strikes are more common, in which lightning hits either a tall object like a tree and radiates out in the ground (sometimes causing rare streamers) or hitting the ground directly. These tend to be the most common alongside side flashes, and again, can be fatal but not usually. Especially if you take the below precaution!
If you're caught in the open, do the “Lightning-Safety Crouch” -- couch with your feet together, on the balls of your feet, and your hands over your ears. Do not put your hands on the ground to steady yourself because ground strike currents will flow through your arms, through your heart, and then through your legs instead of primarily going up one leg and down the other.
"Typically, the lightning enters the body at the contact point closest to the lightning strike, travels through the cardiovascular and/or nervous systems, and exits the body at the contact point farthest from the lightning. The greater the distance between contact points, the greater the potential for death or serious injury. Because large farm animals have a relatively large body-span, ground current from a nearby lightning strike is often fatal to livestock."
(For more info with some visual guides, here's a good video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QS9Halhqgg)
Direct strikes are the least common, but most deadly (though they can be survived). These hit the person directly- and is often the type we see Jay use. It's not really the volts that kill a person- it's the current and how long it takes. It's why a household plug, especially with a metal piece like a fork stuck into it, can kill, even at 42-120 volts compared to the 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 3 million, or even 1.2 billion volts that can be in lightning. The further lightning travels, the higher the volts must be to sustain it and the more dangerous it is (that's why more lightning-caused-wildfires are made by positive strikes that come from higher in the clouds). If lightning hits your heart, you're pretty much toast, though some people have been revived through CPR.
Lightning is also 5 times hotter than the sun (as mentioned in the previous post), which is part of why 3rd and 4th degree burns happen. Depending on what is hit (and what might explode from a gas rupture), fires can absolutely start.
So that 90% not-fatal is true, but part of that comes from the fact direct strikes are much rarer than side flashes, conduction, and ground strikes.
On a city-scale, depending on wiring (hard wiring especially, like in some telephones, is bad), couldd potentially cause a lot of conductive shock if lightning is flooding the currents while people are using them.
I will say Cole is likely the most dangerous on a city-scale, with earthquakes, sink-holes, mud and rock slides, possible volcanic ruptures, fissures, etc.
On a personal level, Jay would arguably be the more dangerous, especially with distance-increasing danger.
However.
This is all using real-world lightning. Jay's powers in the show (as a show, for viewing sake) are slower (not 100% sure what that would impact though) , and we can assume he's using a lot less volts on purpose. We also don't know how strong the hearts are of Ninjago denizens (though, to be fair, we also don't know if they're more resistant or susceptible to broken bones, burns, frostbite, etc). So depending on those physics, he could be less dangerous. And since we only see dazed, we can assume the show makes them less dangerous because, well, as dark as it can be, "one of the main characters kills people a lot during normal heroics" isn't really something that would get past the censors.
But with real-world physics? Yeah, his powers can very dangerous, specifically because he's messing with the statistic by hitting people directly quite often. It's not guaranteed fatal, but a lot more dangerous than other types of strikes.
There's also the fact he tends to connect with more arcs than just one. Yes, lightning branches, but usually only one part ends up hitting- I don't know the physics for the style Jay uses, but with multiple points of contact, that's probably not doing the current many favours (or maybe it is- I'm not an expert)!
So yeah! Some fun facts about lightning :D
All in all, every power is dangerous depending on how it's used, how much, and the circumstances.
But yeah Jay is also a twink, that part is very correct.
Pedro Salinas, tr. by Ruth Katz Crispin, from Memory in My Hands: The Love Poetry of Pedro Salinas; “The voice I owe to you”
I am (not) THOR by luffie
A Thor-like fan art sketch that I just did. I was inspired by one of Esad RIbic’s sketch (I think it was him). In the future, he will have more distinct design to separate himself from Thor.
KILLUA HUNTER X HUNTER
Why does the author has to fall sick, oh dear God please make him healthy just so he can continue this awesome manga!!! :p
Thunder Legend Eze 7* by luffie
So I’ve realized that I have no tumblr’d this full version of Thunder Legend Eze from Brave Frontier. And now I have, because it deserves it. Welcome 2017, you are going to see even greater Brave Frontier art.
Disnomian Emperor Shion by luffie
He is pretty cool, don’t you think so? One day I am going to get him I swear....
Storm the Lightning Fairy (Rainbow Magic)
METAL!!!
I hate the OG Storm's design. It looks so weird to me, like she's trying to look like a rock star, but also a circus act. It's weird.
So I added a bit of Jack'o Valentine to Storm.
As I sat in the dark, eating strawberries and nutella on toast, watching the lighting roll outside my window, I thought, "this is what poetry is made of" and I figured someone would know what I meant.
This reads like a poem
Why does thunder do no damage?
Why are lightning free and bright?
How is it I cannot manage
to meet the gaze of the light?
Why should one never stand
beneath a tree in an electric storm?
Why does my trembling hand
reach for the sky's harm?
(source: https://archive.org/details/pathwaysinscienccrai_4/page/140/mode/2up?view=theater)
Why is there so much lightning?
Who peeved of a sky god?
Commission for askriven-theexile Stock used for the background texture! The rest of it is made all by me.
