strange behavior of laptop during thunderstorm

Allan Adler · 2004-08-20T16:48:57+00:00

I was using a laptop a few weeks ago during a thunderstorm. I knewabout the storm and was running the laptop on battery for that reason.This laptop runs RedHat Linux 9 and for reasons I don't understandwon't use the full screen for X, but only about half of it, but onecan still use it, and that is what I was doing during the thunderstorm.At a certain point, there was some lightning nearby and suddentlythe computer display was occupying the full screen. But it alsowas hanging and wouldn't respond to commands, so I turned it offand rebooted it. It's tempting to think that this had somethingto do with the storm, but I was running the laptop on battery.Still, I remember when I was a kid hearing stories of electriclights dimming when someone took their sweater off, apparentlydue to the static charge from the wool, so I don't entirelyrule it out. I was using the laptop in a basement apartmentand maybe there was a very slight change in ground potentialduring the storm, which got transmitted through my feet and thenmy fingers to the laptop. Or, when I use an oscilloscope sometimes(my old EICO 460) the signal displayed on the scope depends on howclose I am to the probe; I've been told that this is due to the factthat the body acts as an antenna somehow. So maybe instead of changingground potential, it was my body acting as an antenna and transmittingsome electrical disturbance due to the lightning. I don't like to speculateabout these possibilities since I really don't know what I'm talking about.The laptop has shown no signs of damage since then.It was always my impression that it is perfectly safe to operatea laptop under battery during a thunderstorm, but this experienceis making me wonder. Can someone please clarify this point?-- Ignorantly,Allan Adler * Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT CSAIL. My actions and* comments do not reflect in any way on MIT. Also, I am nowhere near Boston.

Aug 20, 2004 20 Replies

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Chris Hodges 22 years ago

Conductivity of wood depends strongly on moisture content. A tree in a storm is not quite the same as a wooden table in this regard!

Chris

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strange behavior of laptop during thunderstorm

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