A little off-topic - Lightning and Electrical Components

[joelg236]

Hey there, I've been curious about this for a while and I know you guys in this community are probably pretty qualified to answer this question. I'm not sure if this is the right sub-forum, if not, I'd be happy to move it to somewhere more fitting (Electrical seemed the most relevant).

I'm wondering about lightning strikes, as to why people (At least some people who I know) are so concerned about surges and power outages damaging electrical components. Specifically (And I think this is due to the misconceptions that a lot of people have about computers - imagine 'ohhh, shiny'), people seem to think that computers can be seriously damaged by lightning strikes.

Now, my natural instinct is to say that this is not accurate, plainly because of all the measures we have in place to prevent such things from happening (Eg. Breakers, Surge protectors in transformers, surge protectors in power bars, fuses in appliances, etc.), but is my instinct not correct in this situation? And if so, what are the actual chances that such damage can occur? (For example, is a surge to the power brick on my laptop capable of affecting the laptop itself because the laptop is capable of powering itself with it's battery)

If my instinct is correct, I'd love to understand what exactly goes on in the electrical components (Eg. Surge protectors, breakers) to stop surges from damaging components.

I'm not a huge electrical guy, so layman's terms are appreciated

Thanks,
Joel