Hair suddenly stood up in the desert! Netizens: Run! Experts: Don't run

Recently, in Turpan, Xinjiang

Tourists' hair suddenly stood up while traveling

Many netizens reminded: "Evacuate quickly! This is a lightning strike signal! " In response, Feng Minxue, director of the Jiangsu Lightning Protection Center, said that if you encounter a similar situation , "run quickly" is not the best strategy!

▲A tourist's hair suddenly stood up in the desert. Video screenshot.

Why does hair stand up?

When a person is in an open area, his hair suddenly stands up. This is because there are nerve endings called "beauty nerves" around the hair follicles. When these nerves are stimulated by external factors, they will cause the hair to stand up.

Specifically, there are two reasons.

First, there is the instinctive reaction. When the human body senses a threat, adrenaline surges in the body, causing muscles throughout the body to tense, the heart rate to speed up, and the hair to stand on end.

Secondly, it is related to static electricity. When the air around the human body is dry, static electricity is easily generated. If the hair is fully exposed to static electricity, it will be attracted by the charged air, causing the hair to stand up.

The situation these tourists encountered was probably related to static electricity. The sky was overcast at the time and the clouds above their heads were charged.

What should I do if I get struck by lightning outdoors?

The last possible way to protect yourself from lightning when there is no indoor or other shelter available is to:

• Immediately move away from any high ground, such as mountain tops, ridges, or rooftops;
• Stay away from open areas and avoid being in a commanding position;
• Don’t lie flat on the ground;
• Don’t take shelter under a solitary tree;
• Keep away from water or conductors;
• Do not take shelter in shallow holes or ravines.

If the hair is just dry and has a lot of static electricity, there is still time to leave. If the hair is already standing up, you can't run. And running will form step voltage, which is more troublesome.

The correct approach is to minimize the height and the area of ​​contact between your body and the ground. If you don't have time to leave the top of the mountain, squat down on the spot, keep your feet together as much as possible, avoid touching the ground with your hands, and hold your head between your knees.

▲A tourist's hair suddenly stood up in the desert. Video screenshot.

In response, one netizen asked, "How long should you squat with your head held high?"

Experts remind us that this is a desperate self-help measure and we should never wait until we are about to be struck by lightning before we react.

When encountering lightning, you can use the difference in propagation speed between lightning and thunder to roughly judge the distance of the lightning.

We know that the speed of sound in the air is 340m/s and the speed of light is 300,000km/s. If you do not hear thunder within 20 seconds after seeing lightning, it means that the lightning is far away from us. On the contrary, it means that the lightning is close to us and we need to find a building to hide as soon as possible. The danger of lightning can be basically eliminated 30 minutes after the last thunder.