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Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Lightning?

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Lightning is so common that virtually all adults know what it is. Most have seen it. Many have been frightened by it. It can be associated with other weather phenomena and often is. A lot of people are even fascinated by it and feel that it is a beautiful ‘fireworks display’. In a huge number of places, lightning storms happen several times a year, at least.

Given all of this, what do you know about lightning?

  • Question of

    On average, how many people are killed or injured by lightning each year?

    • 700
    • 2,400
    • 1,660,000
  • Question of

    True or False: Ligntning can occur during snowstorms.

    • True
    • False
  • Question of

    How often does lightning occur in the world?

    • 50 times per second
    • 100 times per hour
    • 75 times per day
  • Question of

    True or False: In the western United States, over 80% of forest fires are caused by lightning.

    • True
    • False
  • Question of

    True or False: You are as likely to be struck by lightning if you are wealthy as you are if you are poor.

    • True
    • False
  • Question of

    About what percentage of lightning strikes the ground or objects on the ground?

    • 73%
    • 50%
    • 20%
  • Question of

    If you live to be 80 years old and live in the US, what are your chances of getting struck by lightning?

    • 1 in 100
    • 1 in 10,000
    • 1 in 800,000
  • Question of

    True or False: More people die from lightning strikes in the US than in any other country.

    • True
    • False
  • Question of

    How much voltage does an average lightning bolt carry?

    • 1,000 volts
    • 100,000 volts
    • 120 million volts
  • Question of

    How wide is an average bolt of lightning?

    • 4 inches
    • 1.5 feet
    • 8 feet

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Written by Rex Trulove

21 Comments

  2. \I got 6/10. This is a really interesting quiz, Rex! I absolutely love watching an electric storm. Here, we might see one on average once a year, so I guess that makes them all the more special for us 🙂 Pray tell about this one: You are as likely to be struck by lightning if you are wealthy as you are if you are poor.

    1

    • According to statistics, poor people are at least three or four times as likely to get struck by lightning as are wealthy people. I don’t think that studies have been done to actually show why that is, but my assumption is that poor people are less likely to have a solid, firm shelter to get into during a thunderstorm, while wealthy people have homes that will usually protect them. People who don’t have a shelter that will allow a discharge to flow around them are far more likely to get struck.

      1

      • Aye, that likely makes more sense than what I was thinking (that poor people were unlucky, and that it was the same bad luck that kept them poor as made them likely to be struck by lightning. Yeah, I know 🙂 )

        1

    • It is surprising, isn’t it? Here in Montana, we have thunder-snow a few times a year, on average. They aren’t as common as thunderstorms from rain clouds, but they do happen.

    • Statistics show that poor people are three to four times more likely to be struck by lightning than wealthy people are. It could be because wealthy people tend to have good, stable shelter that poor people often lack. If a person has a well-built house they can get inside of during a lightning storm, they are much less likely to be struck by lightning.