Being struck by lightning is a dangerous and scary experience and can even be fatal. But if you are lucky, you’ll just end up having a unique scar like a tattoo. Fern-like pattern running down your body…
The electrical discharge can leave a tattoo-like marking or scar known as a Lichtenberg figure. The patterns created are known to be examples of fractals. The name derives from the German physicist who first described seeing a similar pattern while experimenting with static electricity, these reddish fern-leaf patterns are a skin reaction to a lightning strike.
Presented below is a small gallery of people who were struck by lightning and the fractal pattern it left behind.
These dramatic “keraunographic” marks are sometimes referred to as “lightning flowers” or “lightning trees.” They tend to occur on the arms, back, neck, chest, or shoulders of lightning strike victims.
If you’re curious, the odds of getting struck by lightning are very rare at about one in ten million. But that’s more likely than winning the Powerball, which gives you a one in 292 million chance.
Lightning strikes can result in death. They are nothing to laugh about or mess around with. When a lightning storm is raging in your neck of the woods, it is best to stay in a shelter and away from anything that might increase your risk of becoming a target of one of these bolts that carry as much as 100 million volts of electricity.
As the tech blog Gear Diary reported, Winston Kemp earned this intricate body art during a spring storm when he went outside to save his pumpkins. Ironically, Kemp is an electrician, but it wasn’t his job that put him in contact with this electrical jolt; it was
a bolt from Mother Nature in his own backyard.
The 24-year-old says he saw something bright and heard something loud hit his neighbor’s yard, but he didn’t feel a thing.
“I just came back inside like nothing was wrong. Umm … my arm was sore. But I didn’t… I don’t think I saw any marks until 30, 45 … [it was] maybe an hour before I saw the marks,” he tells Gear Diary.
Lightning bolts are extremely powerful. They travel as fast as 270,000 miles per hour, can be as thick as 2 to 3 centimeters, and reach temperatures as high as 30,000 degrees Celsius, which is five times hotter than the surface of the sun.
Here’s what folks online think about these unique scars created by mother nature:
“It probably hurt like hell, but it’s amazing.”
“Holy smoke, these people look like they are very lucky to be alive. I wonder if they bought a lottery ticket after surviving that.”
“They’re really quite beautiful.”
“These fern marks are not permanent. They go away after a few months. My cousin was struck by lightning, and this happened to her. A miracle they survived.”
Source: AWM
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