Why Do Trees Explode When Struck By Lightning?

 Photo Credit : Pinterest

Lightning strikes aren't always good to watch. Especially when it involves it striking a human. Lightning is usually caused by the collision of negatively and positively charged particles.  Lightning is merely a steady flow of electrons. I'm sure most of you reading this would have heard about the human body containing about 70% water. Therefore, we know humans are good conductors of electricity, which makes up for the reason why Lightning can easily strike us. But what do you do if you get stuck by Lightning?  It's quite simple.

You perform the Lightning Crouch.

Photo Credit : Torontoparamedicservice
The Lightning Crouch is a technique which can reduce harmful effects of Lightning on lightning victims.


 In the case of plants(e.g., Trees), they are bad conductors of electricity but good conductors of heat. Because of their higher resistivity, they generate a high temperature when struck by Lightning. In many movies, we have seen trees get struck by Lightning, and then they explode of burst in flames. The truth is, such scenario is possible. Quite a few of you have seen this happen, and we know how it looks like.

 BUT WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN IN THE CASE OF TREES AND NOT IN HUMANS?
Trees are wood. Wood, in many countries, is used in making fire; which means it is a good conductor of heat. When Lightning strikes a tree, due to its high resistance or opposition to the flow of current within it, the current electricity stores up and is replaced by heat. 

Photo Credit: Wonderopolis
Sometimes, the tree itself could resist a high amount of current. Storing up here instead and when it goes beyond 6,000°C, it bursts into flames because of the intense and sudden heat, and can even lead to a fatal explosion.  In many countries, cases have been reported about trees getting cut in half and burning up. Now we can figure out why that happened. Subscribe to our notifications to get updates from us directly to your device, just touch the bell icon on your screen. Stay tuned.