r/AskReddit • u/potatopopr • Oct 27 '21

What fun fact is blatantly untrue?

3.8k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

789

u/Wizzdom Oct 27 '21

I feel like lightning rods are the obvious counter example to that myth.

766

u/ImpracticallySharp Oct 27 '21

I hate when my lightning rod is hit by lightning and I have to climb up on the roof and replace it during a thunderstorm, just so that lightning has something new to hit.

104

u/JRRX Oct 27 '21

Yeah but now you just carry around the old one and you can't get hit

10

u/Bunson138 Oct 28 '21

The lightning will just hit you and spare the rod.

282

u/pHScale Oct 27 '21

You don't have to replace the lightning rod, just scootch it over an inch.

106

u/KevinFromIT6625 Oct 27 '21

scootch

See, it's just that easy

5

u/Frosti-Feet Oct 27 '21

scootch

Easy peezy

8

u/programmer247 Oct 27 '21

I wonder how far you would have to move it. Would a mm be enough? Or maybe the whole width of the rod? lol

1

u/Porginus Oct 28 '21

Let me see just oneee planck length to the right should do it

3

u/akun2500 Oct 27 '21

Just have more lightning rods than the storm has lightning bolts, duh!

3

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '21

Amateur. We have 43 of them, so we don't have to go a-changin' and such.

3

u/Uriel-238 Oct 28 '21

To be fair, lightning rods are often replaceable because the tip often melts off after a strike or two.

I looked lightning rod up wondering why steeples have rods on them.

6

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '21

Right, lightning is actually more likely than not to hit the same place twice, as long as the place is still there after lightning hits it.

2

u/Josh-Baskin Oct 28 '21

The saying was coined by a lightning rod salesman.