Is it just a myth that during a lightening storm you should close your computer down and move away from the monitor? How close does a storm have to be before youy would do that? Is there any cases of people being fried to death at their computer? I always close mine down at home if I see lightening - but I dont know exactly whether it just an irational fear of me and my computer being fried
Your fear is irrational and falls under the category of a myth, wives tale, or an urban legend. Unless of course you're downloading copious amounts of internet porn, in which case God wouldn't hesitate to use the lightning as a means to an end :leaving: Hotwater
when lightning strikes powerlines it raises the potential (voltage) on the powerline. in local power distributors (sub stations) there is usually a device that is installed to carry the current of the lightning strike down to earth (actually i think it goes the other way but never mind) the lightning strike has however increased the potential difference on the line which means appliances plugged into the power socket will also be subjected to the voltage rise. i think that even though the voltage increases on the power cables in a house lets say, very little current will pass through the aplliance as most of the current has been passed through the power companies earthing arrangements. however i think that delicate appliances with a heap of voltage sensitive components will be zapped, actually a relative of mine made remark over the past year that there had been a lightning strike near the house and now the modem didn't work. so even though very little current may travel through an appliance the voltage increase on the transistors may burn out one of the millions of transistors at a microscopic level causing malfunction. static electricity from your hands is eneough to damage some equipment, when handling/dismantling computers you need to wear a grounding strap linking yourself to the computer frame (don't touch this stuff without switching it off and unplugging it!!!)
Last summer a lightening bolt stuck my cousin's house. It fried pretty much everything electrical that was plugged in from the caller display on his phone to his microwave to his tv... computer included.
