It is almost impossible to try and "scientifically" pick apart how the
energy of a direct ground strike will affect any electrical component. There
is just so much energy envolved. I live in an area in the US Midwest that
gets many violent storms that contain a large amount of ground strikes. Just
about 2 weeks ago, we had a large strike that hit the access post of our
phone lines about 30yds from my home. It blew a 3ft deep hole and completely
destroyed the phone lines to ours and three other homes. In my home, it only
disabled our phone lines and did no damage there, but I have an outside
AC/Heat pump and it came in there and completely destroyed my climate
control system. No other damage in my house. All the other homes had all
their phone outlets burned to a crisp and all phones and at least the modems
for their computers were fried. When there is that much energy, wet ground
and so many ways for the energy to enter and exit there just aren't enough
constants to analize how that energy is going to dissipate itself. There is
also no foolproof method of protecting your electronics. I have used good
quality UPSs on my electronics for some 5yrs and have been lucky since then.
Before that, I used various brands of surge protectors and was constantly
having lightning damage. I guess what I am saying is that, yes, the energy
will follow the path of least resistance, but with that much energy to
dissipate, there are lots of paths it may follow.


Ed