Red-Alert! Holding Cell Phone
Posted on | June 8, 2007 | Comments Off
IN THE face of the current sporadic rainstorms and their accompanying strong thunders and lightening, cellular phone users have been strongly warned against having their mobile equipment on their bodies during rainstorms because that could be very dangerous.
According to the director for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems at the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Amamoo Okyere who gave the warning, possessing a cell phone in one’s pocket or any part of the body is as hazardous as it is dangerous during rainstorms and lightening.
Speaking on ‘Citi FM’ radio which is based in Accra, yesterday, the director made it known that cell phones and radio sets use radio waves and on that score are likely to attract lightening. However, he posited that not all rains produce lightening but some types of clouds facilitate the production of lightening when it rains and, as a consequence, it will be prudent on the part of people to put away cell phones whenever there is a downpour.
When he was asked whether landline phones can also produce lightening, Dr. Okyere explained that, where a house has what he called an arrester, it may not produce lightening. He made a distinction between an arrester and an ‘earth wire’ to the effect that the ‘earth wire’ or what is generally called ‘earth’ is buried in a dug hole which is first stuffed with some charcoal and salt at the back of some houses. The charcoal, according to him, has an ionising effect. The arrester, on the other hand, is a sword or spear-like projection which is usually placed on top of a roof and connected to an HR rod that runs down walls to the earth. Houses with arresters, according to him, are insulated against their landlines attracting lightening.
Added to these remarkable revelations, Dr. Amamoo posited, lying flat on the face when rains produce thunder and lightening is advisable because standing erect during rain lightening can be very ruinous.
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