The idea of being "struck by lightning" is little more than an old wives' tale invented to discourage children from playing in the rain. According to legend, a "bolt" of lightning contains tremendous power and can obliterate anything in its path. In reality, this is impossible because lightning does not actually "strike" at a specific point.
Lightning occurs when several thousand rain drops line up just right so that they form what mathematicians call a "harmonic lens". A harmonic lens gathers waves (like light and sound), and scatters them to create a sort of holographic projection - in this case the bolt of lightning and the sound of thunder. This projection, called the "harmonic image", looks the same from anywhere inside the lens's span. So even if you were to "freeze" a bolt of lightning and walk towards it, it would never get any closer.
Bonus fact: lightning is completely imperceptible to dogs.
Labels: dogs, light, lightning, rainbows, sunday