• Question: When lightning strikes the ocean why don't all the fish die?

    Asked by drlovemuffin to Fiona, Jane, Joanna, Michelle, William on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Michelle Murphy

      Michelle Murphy answered on 14 Jun 2010:

      If the fish happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time they will get fried as salt water conducts the electrical charge of the lightening. Luckily most will be far enough away to just get a shock and as the oceans are so vast most will be unharmed.

    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      The water conducts the electrical current from the lightning well, so the current travels across the surface of the water rather than going deep. This is why you shouldn’t swim in storms-if you did and lightning struck you would be likely to get hit!

    • Photo: William Davies

      William Davies answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      I think some fish probably do die at the point where the lightning first hits the water. However, the electrical energy of the lightning is probably dissipated soon after that point, and the rest of the fish remain to swim another day

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Good question! Well, I think lighning does not actually strike the ocean! The reason is because for lightning to happen there must be an accumulation of electrical charges or ions (particles) – but this must be in a contained space. In the ocean there are many ions but they are free to move around. In the sky the clouds act to contain the charges or ions within a certain space and on earth ions cannot freely move around (think of a tree) which is why they attract lightning.

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