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What happens when lightning strikes in the ocean?

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

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

  • Answer:

    A number of things happen when lightning hits the ocean. The lightning is going to the ground, not to the fish. As soon as it hits the sea it spreads out and dissipates. Contrary to what some think, salt water is an excellent conductor, and no current leaves the water to pass through the fish. If a whale was on the surface and the lightning hit it, it would be burned and possibly killed.

Jorge C at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Salt water is a bad conductor of electricity. So the current does not spread far enough.

mariodcosta1993

It's kind of a myth that Water is a good conductor of electricity. It does conduct, don't get me wrong, but it's not really that good (but saltwater is waaay more conductive than regular water). plus, the strength of the shock felt in the water, is only as strong as the volume of water you got (known in physics as current density). if the fish were in a small tank, then yea, they'd be electrocuted to death, but given such a HUGE volume as the ocean, the current from the lighting gets smaller as it spreads out. btw. you actually asked a physics question.

Yacob

When the lighting hits the water,the lighting needs to disperse in all directions in a big sea.Water is a good conductor of electricity but with all that water to disperse to and note that fishes usually don't swim that near to the surface,it does'nt swim directly below the surface of the water and the electricity ought to lose it's power before it can move too far out and sort of become heat instead if i remember.

z827

Because they dont swim on the surface of the water, they are deeper and by the time the lightning gets to them its very dull, and its just a little shock. Also, its very big so it wont travel too far

Jacob M

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