Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: paul.fr on 05/05/2007 01:00:35

Title: Is a car a safe place to be during thunder and lightning storms?
Post by: paul.fr on 05/05/2007 01:00:35
Why is it safe to be sat in your car during a thunder and lightening storm
Title: Re: Is a car a safe place to be during thunder and lightning storms?
Post by: elegantlywasted on 05/05/2007 04:43:49
Your rubber tires ground you and the car
Title: Re: Is a car a safe place to be during thunder and lightning storms?
Post by: daveshorts on 05/05/2007 08:54:41
The grounding is a minor issue. The important thing is that you are surrounded by something which conducts electricity far better than you do. This means that the lightning will prefer to flow through the car and not through you.
Title: Re: Is a car a safe place to be during thunder and lightning storms?
Post by: eric l on 05/05/2007 08:56:58
Would that also work for a Trabant ?  (You know, the polyester body work....)
Title: Re: Is a car a safe place to be during thunder and lightning storms?
Post by: daveshorts on 05/05/2007 09:14:05
No it wouldn't, the fibreglass will not conduct, and the electricity will probably flow preferentially through you then the steering wheel, and the metal parts to the wheels. So it may well be more dangerous. I am not sure if the same is true of a smart car.
Title: Re: Is a car a safe place to be during thunder and lightning storms?
Post by: iko on 05/05/2007 11:11:31
Faraday cage

(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.menzelphoto.com%2Fimages%2Fgallery%2Fbig%2Fenvironment%2Flightning%2Fgal_env_lig_02.jpg&hash=3ff3d6e0ee92dc9794a69be57dd8b719)
http://www.menzelphoto.com/images/gallery/big/environment/lightning/gal_env_lig_02.jpg

Faraday cage
A Faraday cage or Faraday shield is an enclosure formed by conducting material, or by a mesh of such material. Such an enclosure blocks out external static electrical fields. Faraday cages are named after physicist Michael Faraday, who built one in 1836 and explained its operation.

The electrical charges in the enclosing conductor repel each other and will therefore always reside on the outside surface of the cage. Any external static electrical field will cause the charges to rearrange so as to completely cancel the field's effects in the cage's interior. This effect is used for example to protect electronic equipment from lightning strikes and other electrostatic discharges.

To a large degree, Faraday cages also shield the interior from external electromagnetic radiation if the conductor is thick enough and its meshes, if present, are significantly smaller than the radiation's wavelength. This application of Faraday cages is explained under electromagnetic shielding.
...
read more:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage


In the particccularrr case you mentioned here above,
your car works as your Faraday cage!

ikod   [8D]
Title: Re: Is a car a safe place to be during thunder and lightning storms?
Post by: Bored chemist on 05/05/2007 15:12:26
The rain on the surface of a fiberglass car might save you but I wouldn't want to have to bet on it.