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Chapter 24: Problem 7

A person and a cow are standing in a field when lightning strikes the ground nearby. Why is the cow more likely to be electrocuted?

Short Answer

Expert verified
A cow's wider stance allows for a larger voltage difference between the front and back legs during a lightning strike. The larger this voltage difference, the larger the current that flows through the body, thus making the cow more likely to be electrocuted.

Step by step solution

01

Understand Electricity Flow

The flow of electricity always seeks the path of least resistance to travel from a higher potential to a lower potential. In atmospheric discharge conditions, such as lightning strikes, the ground is at a lower potential than the clouds where the lightning originates. Hence, the lightning tends to strike the ground.
02

Consider Grounding and Animal Geometry

During a lightning strike, electricity travels through the ground after the initial strike. The physical structure of an organism plays a role in how this current is conducted. Cows, with their wider stances, have their legs farther apart than those of a human. This means that when electricity travels through the ground, it may consider the cow as an easier path to reach farther into the ground from one leg to the other, unlike a human whose legs are closer together.
03

Analyze How Current Flows Through Animals

Both humans and cows will likely be affected by step voltage or ground currents during a lightning strike, but due to the fact that a cow's legs are often wider apart, they are much more prone to larger voltage differences across their bodies. Lightning-induced voltages spread out in a radial pattern from the strike point and decrease as you move away. The voltage difference between two points increases with the distance between them. Hence, the voltage difference between a cow's front and back legs is greater than that between a human's two feet, causing a larger current to flow through the cow's body.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

You're heading out for spring break, but your car won't start. Your friend says you might have corrosion at the battery terminals- -a frequent cause of hard starting because of increased resistance. Having read Example \(24.4,\) you know that the resistance between battery and starter should be around \(1 \mathrm{m} \Omega\). While your friend cranks the starter, you measure \(4.2 \mathrm{V}\) between the battery terminal and the wire carrying current to the starter motor. If the motor draws \(125 \mathrm{A},\) is the resistance in its normal range?

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