Warning: Using your mobile phone in an electrical storm may be
hazardous to your health.
Lightning hit dozens of sightseers at the Juyongguan section of
the Great Wall this weekend. Fifteen people were slightly injured
in the 2:40 PM strike on Saturday.
The 15 were sent to hospitals for treatment and by Sunday
evening they had all been discharged in good condition, said an
official with the Management Department of the Juyongguan Great
Wall.
Witnesses said that an elderly person was using a mobile phone
to make a call during a lightning storm.
The use of mobile phones in stormy weather has been previously
reported in China as a cause of injuries and death. On June 23 this
year, a woman was fatally struck by lightning on a street in
Changchun, Jilin Province, while using a cellphone in bad
weather.
It is very dangerous to use mobile phones where there is thunder
and lightning, said Professor Liu Shuhua, of the Atmospheric
Science Department at Peking University. The electromagnetic waves
emitted by mobile phones are good conductors for electricity. The
phone acts as a lightning rod and the electrical current from the
lightning is concentrated in it, he said.
In places with lightning rods, it would be safer to use mobile
phones in stormy weather, said Zhu Pei, an expert with the School
of Physics at Peking University. However, in open places it could
cause death or injury. Connection to the communication network
creates the risk, Zhu warned, and phones should be turned off in
such open places during storms.
It is also very dangerous to use mobile phones in electric
storms while at gasoline stations, Liu said. The combination of a
strong positive electrical charge in the mobile phone and
combustible gas could easily cause a fire or an explosion.
(China Daily July 26, 2004)