Random Thursday

Okay kids, it's time to enter a new book of weird-ness! And I actually just ordered another one online that looked pretty cool! I'll be sure to share that one with you too if it ends up being a winner! Today we're digging into Weird But True Facts by Leslie Gilbert Elman!

(image borrowed from Science Mag)

Every year there are 16 million thunderstorms. In January of 2010, in Sydney, Australia, a man was struck by lightning while washing the dishes. During that same storm, lightning entered a different home through an open window and set the curtains on fire.

Lesson is never leave windows open during a thunderstorm no matter where you live! And maybe not wash dishes during one either! 

(image borrowed from Live About)

The most common victims of indoor lightning strikes are people who talk on their landlines during a storm.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a picture of someone talking on a landline! You search for "phone" and it's all cell phones! Lol.

(image borrowed from NPR)

During a thunderstorm with lightning, Earth broadcasts quite the variety of sounds; pops, crackles, whistles, and sizzles via radio waves as a result of the lightning strikes. Storms on the other side of the planet can still send very low frequency radio waves that bounce between the planet's surface and the ionosphere that can "bounce" all the way to your house.

That's weird about the storm on the OTHER side of the planet!

(image borrowed from Wikipedia)

When lightning strikes sand the heat cause the silica to form craggy glass tubes that fossilize the lightning. These "lightning fossils" are called fulgurites. "Fulgur" is Latin for lightning.

That's cool! I'd like to see one of these in person!

(image borrowed from Inverse)

A fulgurite was found in the Sahara that was estimated to be about 15,000 years old. According to geochronologists--scientists who specialize in determining the age of rocks--this suggests that the Sahara wasn't always the hot, dry desert that we see today.

That's interesting!