# Car plus lightning



## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Does anyone know if the metal inside a car, (specifically, a small area of metal - light weight -on the inside of the door) would conduct electricity? Prius III. 

It may sound nutty, but I like to drive in light storms & just want to be safe from lightning. It's not all that common in parts of California, but is up here. 

The worse I've seen in terms of personal exposure to electricity, was driving in the beginning of a hurricane in Hawaii & a large power-pole fell directly in front of the Jeep Cherokee. The lines were all live/sparking & touched the car in several places but because I only touched rubber, I was fine driving across & under them. I had no choice at the time, since the car was moving over/under the lines, immediately.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

All metals conduct electricity.

However, your car is insulated because your tires are made of rubber. 

So if a live wire falls on your car, you should be fine, regardless of what you touch. Until you freak out and run out of the car, and have one foot on the road, and one hand on the energized car.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

I'm certainly not a scientist or meteorologist, but my understanding is that you will likely be ok. Electrical energy from lightning is discharging between the clouds and the earth. If a metal structure, like your car, is in the way, it will flow around the outer surface in what some call the 'Faraday effect'. Google "Faraday Cage" for a better explanation that what I can provide. Basically, your car is a rolling Faraday Cage (the same goes for aircraft, and they aren't even in contact with the ground, but they get hit because their metal is a more attractive conductor than air). As in many things sciency, there are exceptions. Some of the energy can flow through conductive paths that are connected to the body - such as down through an antenna then through the radio which is grounded (connected) to the car's body. So there is a possibility that, if you were searching for tunes at the time, you could become part of the path for some of the energy. It can also fry the electronics that modern vehicles depend on. I'm not aware that vehicle electronics are 'hardened' against lightning the same way aircraft electronics are. I once saw a police car that had been struck at the long, roof-mounted antenna. The radio box was a block of molten metal but no other damage that I recall.

It is my understanding that the tires are not really an effective insulator. They contain carbon compounds, many contain metal, and they may well be wet. I have seen photos of tires that clearly show burn marks. When you consider the massive amount of energy involved, it would take an absolutely perfect insulator and, besides, that amount of energy would likely jump the six or so inches from the metal rim to the ground.

The problem of getting out of a vehicle that is in contact with energized power lines lies not only in avoiding touching the ground and vehicle at the same time, but touching the ground at different points with your feet. The electrical potential diminishes in essentially concentric rings as you move away from the source, so if your feet are at a different 'potential gradient', your body becomes part of the path. I believe they train first responders to stay away from grounded live wires by 30'.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Thanks. Since I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie, I think pretty well in emergencies. Plus, what can you really do about it? The problem came when I got out of the car at a beach phone booth, to call regarding the live but fallen power pole & because of the wind, I couldn't hear on the phone, & had a hard time opening the door to the car, again. 

Next time I will park my car with the door away from the ocean:wink2:
That hurricane reached 180 mph.


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## papereater (Sep 16, 2016)

Post #3 is pretty right on except that the composition of tires being from different carbon compounds/metals has nothing to do with tires being useless in protecting against lightning- rubber of about 2-3" will never stop a lightning bolt from conducting ground, just like the popular myth that rubber sneakers/tennis shoes is also protection- BUNK. 

Faraday effect is right on. Convertibles- beware. If your car gets hit and youre touching metal which has contact with the steeel roof, you may be injured/struck.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

Nik333 said:


> Thanks. Since I'm kind of an adrenaline junkie, I think pretty well in emergencies. Plus, what can you really do about it? The problem came when I got out of the car at a beach phone booth, to call regarding the live but fallen power pole & because of the wind, I couldn't hear on the phone, & had a hard time opening the door to the car, again.
> 
> Next time I will park my car with the door away from the ocean:wink2:
> That hurricane reached 180 mph.


You found a phone booth? They've become like buggy whips up here. I don't know much about communications wiring, esp. how they are grounded, but one potential danger with using a landline phone near (if you were in fact near) where live lines are down could be that they may ground via the phone lines.

At 180 mph, you could have lost your car door. What happened to cowering and whimpering like the rest of us?


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

papereater said:


> Post #3 is pretty right on except that the composition of tires being from different carbon compounds/metals has nothing to do with tires being useless in protecting against lightning- rubber of about 2-3" will never stop a lightning bolt from conducting ground


Agree - it would take a lot to successfully stand up against a discharge in the order of 10,000 amps.


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## Bret86844 (Mar 16, 2016)

I think there was a Mythbusters episode on this once. It may fry your car but for the most part you are not the path of least resistance between the lightning and the street below. Although I'll leave the field testing to someone else since the insane voltage can cause it to do bad things.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

> If a metal structure, like your car, is in the way, it will flow around the outer surface in what some call the 'Faraday effect'. Google "Faraday Cage" for a better explanation that what I can provide.


Ayuh,.... An automobile is a very safe place to be in a T-storm, because of the Faraday effect, not it's rubber tires,.....

It's also why I like to put a properly bonded rigid bimini top on my boats,....


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

lenaitch said:


> You found a phone booth? They've become like buggy whips up here. I don't know much about communications wiring, esp. how they are grounded, but one potential danger with using a landline phone near (if you were in fact near) where live lines are down could be that they may ground via the phone lines.
> 
> At 180 mph, you could have lost your car door. What happened to cowering and whimpering like the rest of us?


Ha!:wink2: It wasn't 180 mph at that point, just the beginning. I was miles from the live lines, before I found a beach phone booth. Thanks, I didn't know. I'm an adrenaline junkie but I've been more reasonable/careful since working w/trauma.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Bondo said:


> Ayuh,.... An automobile is a very safe place to be in a T-storm, because of the Faraday effect, not it's rubber tires,.....
> 
> It's also why I like to put a properly bonded rigid bimini top on my boats,....


Oh shoot! I didn't evens think of a boat's lightning's hazards! :surprise:
The boat captains frequently took the boats out to sea away from the ports before a storm.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)




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