According to the article "Pipeline Failure Results from Lightning Strike: Act of Mother Nature?" , a through hole in a 4.8 mm wall thickness, underground pipe, can be attributed to lightning strike.
Is it only me who finds this explanation groundless?
If a lightning hits a metallic object, it will cause only surface marks to the paint or the coating, since the current will spread to the whole surface of the object. It is well known than when lightning hits a car (auto steel sheet is about 1 mm) or metallic poles, there will be no penetrating of the steel. And if the underground pipe was hit by lightning, it would receive only a fraction of the total current.
Is there a way that a lighting could make this hole to a buried pipe?
Is it only me who finds this explanation groundless?
If a lightning hits a metallic object, it will cause only surface marks to the paint or the coating, since the current will spread to the whole surface of the object. It is well known than when lightning hits a car (auto steel sheet is about 1 mm) or metallic poles, there will be no penetrating of the steel. And if the underground pipe was hit by lightning, it would receive only a fraction of the total current.
Is there a way that a lighting could make this hole to a buried pipe?
