Shari Meister, age ll, of Encino, Calif., for her question:

Why does lightning strike in certain places?

Every year, at least 200 Americans are struck by lightning and, sad to say, most of them could have saved themselves. Lightning is a violent discharge of electricity from a storm cloud, and it takes the path of least resistance to the ground. For this reason, it tends to strike high points such as tree tops and church steeples, high towers and the masts of boats. These are places to avoid during a thunderstorm.

When lightning threatens, do not shelter under a lone tree or set out across the water in a sail boat. You are safe in a building that has steel framework or inside a car. These objects, however, are often struck  but they conduct the electric flash safely down into the ground. The searing flash also is conducted safely into the ground by metal lightning rods fixed to the tops of house and tall buildings.