I have heard that one of the safest places to be in a thunderstorm is in your car, because the rubber tires don't conduct electricity.  I smell an urban legend!  Is this true or false?
217153
It is safer to be in your car than outside. \nUnder a tree is especially bad.\n\nThe reasons are because of the metal skin AND because of the tires:\n\n\nThe metal skin for the Faraday cage effect mentioned above.\n\nThe tires because they provide some, but not complete, insulation from the ground. The voltage drop (hence voltage difference) on the surface of the ground can be a typical *10,000 Volts/meter in the neighborhood of a lightning strike!!! I wouldn't want to be standing on that!\n\nThings that aren't grounded are much more likely to get hit.\nThus lightning rods, the use of which has been largely replaced by the (equipotential) grounding plane of your home's electrical system. The top wire in transmission lines is grounded for exactly this reason. (you can tell because it will not have the visible porcelain insulators). Your phone lines and cable lines are grounded as well to reduce their ability to communicate the transient voltages and to eliminate static build up relative to ground (which attracts lightning).\n\nSo in essence, you would want to be grounded to prevent a lightning strike from hitting you, but in case it did hit nearby, you would want to be insulated from the ground.\n\nA car would not be nearly as good as a house, and you would want to shut off your electronics, and not touch any metal, or be close to metal. Which would be tough to do in a car.\n\nIf i was in a wicked 'night of the Huntsman' thunderstorm and  i didn't have a house or car to hide in, i would go to the middle of an open field or ditch and ball up with the least contact to the ground as possible.
664000
That depends on the intensity of the lightning. Due to jolt of thunder, by the reflex action, your eyes are automatically closed and protected. Even if you are in your car, a lightning hit your car, it will conduct the ligtning to the earth without affecting you and your eye. The question is how safely you are kept to lightning. But not the question of lightning distance.
456150
Answer:\nThe birds sit touching only one line and nothing else through which electricity can flow to the ground. This means no current flows through the bird’s body.\n\nSo can I get electrocuted if I touch a power line?\n\nAnswer:\nYES!!! And here is an example to explain why.\n\nYou are out flying your kite and it gets away from you. The kite ends up in the power lines. No harm comes to the kite, much like the bird. But once you get involved in trying to recover the kite danger occurs. If you use a pole of some sort to knock the kite down, the pole becomes a conductor of electricity. When the pole touches the kite, the current flows through the kite into your body and then to the ground. Your body cannot handle such a massive shock and can result in death.
408946
Cars are NOT built air tight\nyou'll be fine\nremember to make sure the car doors are locked, park in a well lit area ( like a rest stop)\nstay safe!
473626
easy,you got to let the charge leak out.when your a car you can take your shoes off and stuff like that but there really is nothing to worry about just because the voltage can range from 10 000 to 20 000 volts it does not necessarily mean its going to harm you, it has a very low current(which does harm in high doses.
272429
u should just getused to it. Iused to getscared when microbursts happened(i live in pheonix arizonaandthose happen a lot here) microbursts are like huge gusts of wind sweep over the ground andthey are very strong. What I did to getover it was just igror it. there is an infinite number of things that are worse than lightningand thunder. distract urslelf fromitby playing video games or watching tv or going on the computer.
614265
That kind of lightning are usually called  cloud to clud lightning, and  occurs  at very high altitudes between clouds at different altitudes (1,000 ft,).  there's no thunder because  the charges are  not  making ground like when they touch  earth.
103642
Let us go back to ben franklin. When he was flying a kite in a thunderstorm, He attached a key to the string, and then tied a silk cord to the string. Touching the key he received a shock, proving the electrical charge from lightning traveled the string. Obviosly the wetness of the string had something to do with it, as dry string will not conduct. Power lines carry a variety of voltages, 7500 to 24,000 volts. Notice that birds can sit on the lines unhurt. They are not connected to ground (return path for electricity).  In a commercial area of 14, 000 to 24,000 volts, there may be enough EMF (electromotive force or voltage) to push the current down the string to you and then GROUND. Bottom line - dont take chances, donmt fly kites near power lines.
184132
HAHAHAHA You all forgot about our little friend called drag! Inside or out the ball has a drag force acting on it by the surrounding air. Like stated before the air in the car is moving with you, and the car, and the ball all the same and the drag force on the ball at this point is negligible. This is not the effect of a vacume, a vacume is the absence of air. is it possible for there to be no air in the car? NO, Sooo.. outside on a bike or where ever, you are traveling at a speed where the balls light weight will be significantly affected by this drag force and it will cause it to slow down as you throw it up and while you keep riding on un affected by the static(motionless) air, your ball only has one force acting on it, air drag causing it to slow behind you.   test this by throwing a variety of same shaped objects while riding and you will see that the one with the most density will keep up the best. try a marble V.S. a ping pong ball.  then do it in the car
597513
Let me answer this way:  The static charge built up between the clouds and earth (ground) cause the air between to become ionized (lightening) causing a discharge of (usually) millions of amperes of current, neutralizing (minimizing) the charge.\n   And as you know, an efficient arrestor is designed to prevent any great voltage rise during the discharge.
330791
Your concept of the linesman is correct, however, being immersed in a body of water is dangerous.  Lightning carries a far greater potential than that of what the linesman faces.  True, there is no conduction of current to ground, but the copter and the line must be equalized before contact can be made.  This is because of the state of "STATIC ELECTRICITY".  Energy that is "Static" is not moving.  Nevertheless, when it comes in contact with another object, one who's energy level is at a different potential, the energy no longer remains static.  The sudden rush of current will be felt.  That's why when you cross the rug and grab the door knob you get a shock.  You have a significantly higher potential than the door knob and when you touch it there is a rush of energy trying to equalize the differences.\n\nBeing in a pool at essentially zero volts and a crack of lightning hits close by, the ground and the water in the pool will charge up before dissipating the lightning strike, possibly leaving you dead.  Wouldn't that ruin your day?\n\nDuring lightning storms stay out of the pool or the tub, do not be running the sink and stay off the phone (cordless phones do not apply in this case as there is no direct wiring to the outside world).  There have been documented cases where persons on the phone have been struck in the head by lightning, again it's due to that equalization of energy levels thing.\n\nHey, even if everyone is wrong, wanna risk your life?  You could die in a tub if someone dropped something electrical in the water.  True, your assumption is that water conducts better than the human body, but that is a wrong assumption.  Pure water is an insulator.  It's the impurity in water that makes it conduct.  Our bodies are actually much better conductors of electricity.  Don't believe me?  Ask someone like an electric shop teacher.\n\nI hesitate to give you a test to try because of the danger of electrocution, but if I were at your house I could demonstrate in a matter of seconds that what I am saying is true.  But for the sake of not causing someone to try a potentially dangerous experiment I'll not be specific.\n\nHowever, if you must know, e-mail me and we can chat.  When I am confident of your ability to conduct the test safely then I will tell you how to do this.
517896
I have heard that before too, but as a meteorologist...I can say I have never found any scientific basis for that theory.\n\nHowever, I was working for the National Weather Service about 20 years ago when I got struck.  After I returned to work, all the staff gave me a hard time about that fact that now that I had been struck once, I was more likely to be struck again.\n\nAfter my stint with NWS, I was a storm chaser for 10 years, and in those 10 years I never even came close.  In fact, in the last 20 years I have come close only once...and that was because I was stupid enough to be standing next to an outside light fixture as a thunderstorm was moving through.
638622
the lightning actually starts in the ground from static electricity...I always thought it was odd starting from ground...
160777
Q: Is it safer to swim in salt water than fresh water if lightning is in the area?\n\nA: It is definitely NOT safe to swim when lightning is in the area in any type of water. Even if current lightning is a few miles away, lightning can pop up in new parts of the storm very quickly. Salt water conducts electricity, which means that it can easily travel through the water toward you. The lightning current may spread out in all directions and dissipate within 20 feet or so, but don’t bet your life on how close the strike will be. As the highest object on the water, you may be the most likely target. \n\nAnswers archive: Lightning safety and survival\nhttp://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/askjack/archives-lightning-safety.htm\n\n-------------\n\n The voltages involved in lightning are so high that even materials that would normally be considered non-conductive become conductors, including the human body. The voltages are so massive that if they start to travel through a boat's structure - say through its mast - then meet with high resistance (for instance, the hull skin) the current discharge, in its attempt to reach ground, may simply blow a hole in the non-conductive barrier. The safety conscious Captain should make sure that his vessel is properly protected. Reference should be made in detail to the standards for lightning protection as set forth by the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) and the job should be performed by a licensed marine electrician.\n\nCone of Protection from Lightning - Faraday's Cage\nhttp://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/lightning.htm\n\n------------------------------\n\nElectrical current can easily travel through them and then to you.\n\nLightning protection tips\nhttp://www.aroundcentralflorida.com/features/lightning/
212667
READ PATEINTLY.. IT MAY APPEAR LONG BUT I GURANTEE YOU SATISFACTION....\n\nyes it is safe....\n\n\nBUT NOT BECAUSE OF RUBBER TYRES..... REMEMBER...\n    \n    NOT BECAUSE OF RUBBER TYRES...\n\nActually when lightening strikes earth surface the charge is in search of the shortest path (least resistance path) to reach the zero potential surface that is earth. Now a car with metallic body is a very good thing to provide that short route to the ground. Same concept as that of a "lighting rod" placed at the top of high rise buildings which attract the lightning towards it instead of the building concrete.\n\nI assume that you know that A PERSON WILL NOT FEEL ANY SHOCK UNTILL AND UNLESS THERE IS FLOW OF CURRENT THROUGH HIS BODY PARTS...\n\nWhen light strikes on the car top, it will get dispersed in all directions and flow through the frame to the wheel frames and then jump from there to the road through the wet tyres. This short jump (of around 8 cm height), in any case, requires less work than conducting electricity through highly non conductive air for height of about a car (120 cm).. or pass through you head and get out from your shoes...\n\nNow imagine yourself sitting in car... you are not in contact from the top... so when light strikes it has 2 options... either to jump  to your head or flow through the conducting car body... answer is obvious and it will pass through the car body...\n\nNow if my legs are touching the car floor then why not i get a shock then..? so answer again is that now when charge is at the floor it is having a zero potential surface below it and there is no point entering into your body and move unneccesarily upwards...\n\nHope you got it...
296506
Only the Electric Power Company can answer this.\n\nAssuming your inforrmation is correct, and this involves RAIN only, not high wind, it is possible there is an Underground Line that shorts out.\n\nWhatever it is, it sounds like something that can be fixed, but this will only happen if you organize the members of the community and invite the Power Company representative to meet with them and explain why this happens.\n\nMake sure the TV News crews are there.
82161
Yes,...or if it hits a tree it can split it down the middle, and should you be in it's path it will kill you more often than not; though, I have read that a few people have been hit more than once and survived; however, their clothing, shoes, etc. were burned.  For the people fortunate enough to have survived a lightening strike,... seems it just wasn't there time to die,...pass on,..meet their maker,...!  Lightening is facinating to watch, but do so from a safe place.  Inside a car is safe because, as you stated, the "rubber" tires provide insulation.\nVery powerful, this thing called lightening!