A
Allan Adler
Guest
I was using a laptop a few weeks ago during a thunderstorm. I knew
about the storm and was running the laptop on battery for that reason.
This laptop runs RedHat Linux 9 and for reasons I don't understand
won't use the full screen for X, but only about half of it, but one
can still use it, and that is what I was doing during the thunderstorm.
At a certain point, there was some lightning nearby and suddently
the computer display was occupying the full screen. But it also
was hanging and wouldn't respond to commands, so I turned it off
and rebooted it. It's tempting to think that this had something
to do with the storm, but I was running the laptop on battery.
Still, I remember when I was a kid hearing stories of electric
lights dimming when someone took their sweater off, apparently
due to the static charge from the wool, so I don't entirely
rule it out. I was using the laptop in a basement apartment
and maybe there was a very slight change in ground potential
during the storm, which got transmitted through my feet and then
my fingers to the laptop. Or, when I use an oscilloscope sometimes
(my old EICO 460) the signal displayed on the scope depends on how
close I am to the probe; I've been told that this is due to the fact
that the body acts as an antenna somehow. So maybe instead of changing
ground potential, it was my body acting as an antenna and transmitting
some electrical disturbance due to the lightning. I don't like to speculate
about 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 operate
a laptop under battery during a thunderstorm, but this experience
is making me wonder. Can someone please clarify this point?
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
* 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.
about the storm and was running the laptop on battery for that reason.
This laptop runs RedHat Linux 9 and for reasons I don't understand
won't use the full screen for X, but only about half of it, but one
can still use it, and that is what I was doing during the thunderstorm.
At a certain point, there was some lightning nearby and suddently
the computer display was occupying the full screen. But it also
was hanging and wouldn't respond to commands, so I turned it off
and rebooted it. It's tempting to think that this had something
to do with the storm, but I was running the laptop on battery.
Still, I remember when I was a kid hearing stories of electric
lights dimming when someone took their sweater off, apparently
due to the static charge from the wool, so I don't entirely
rule it out. I was using the laptop in a basement apartment
and maybe there was a very slight change in ground potential
during the storm, which got transmitted through my feet and then
my fingers to the laptop. Or, when I use an oscilloscope sometimes
(my old EICO 460) the signal displayed on the scope depends on how
close I am to the probe; I've been told that this is due to the fact
that the body acts as an antenna somehow. So maybe instead of changing
ground potential, it was my body acting as an antenna and transmitting
some electrical disturbance due to the lightning. I don't like to speculate
about 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 operate
a laptop under battery during a thunderstorm, but this experience
is making me wonder. Can someone please clarify this point?
--
Ignorantly,
Allan Adler <ara@zurich.csail.mit.edu>
* 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.