I hear that you are safe in an \nautomobile in a lightning storm. \nWhy?
156614
The 'do not touch metal inside a car' is an urban legend.\n\nThe car body acts like a Faraday cage. \n\nA Faraday cage is an enclosure designed to exclude electromagnetic fields. It works on the basis of Gauss's law, one of Maxwell's equations. The Gauss's law describes the distribution of electrical charge on a conducting form, such as a sphere, a plane, a car, etc. Since like charges repel each other, charge will "migrate" to the surface of the cage and not affect anyone inside. Also, since the human body has a higher resistance then the metal, the charge would not travel though the body, as it will always take the shortest way to the ground/path of least resistance. \n\nIt is named after physicist Michael Faraday, who built the first Faraday cage in 1836.
369302
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/
583119
It's perfectly alright to use the mobile phone during lightning, only during that duration you will hear cracking noise in your earpeice. don't worry about lightning in the sky but spread lightning smile to your caller's face through your smile!
130645
When it is cold and dry outside, the friction of your car going through the air creates static on your car. When you get out, you provide the shortest path to ground and the static electricity goes through you. If you hold onto the metal on your door while you are getting out, you will not be shocked.
624019
The tires have nothing to do with it, between the dirt and moisture on the outside of the tires and the metal belting inside the tires, the rubber won't insulate you.  However, since the frame of the car is metal and forms an unbroken 'cage' of sorts around you, most likely the electricity will flow through the metal around you and into the ground.  This assumes that the doors are shut and you don't touch the metal parts of the frame that you can reach from inside the car.  Then again, lightning is unpredictable and often behaves strangely, so almost anything is possible.
42099
lightning occurs when warm air hits cooler air causing friction.  lightning during a snow storm is rare because warm air is harder to come by, however it happens occaissonally when a cold front follows a period of unseasonably warm weather.
577383
Having been in the path of a direct hit by Hurricane Claudette on July 15, 2003, I have to say that I'm not so sure about hanging around for something like that again.  The house I live in made it through Hurricane Carla in 1961 packing winds (COMING ASHORE) of 165 mph.  I now figure if it's barely a hurricane of say 74-80 mph, a category one, I will probably stay.  That doesn't mean I won't be scared as hell, but something of that size going North or South of here isn't going to cause me to leave.  We were blindsided by Hurricane Claudette sneaking up the coast overnight and caught EVERYBODY "with their pants down" so to say.  That was probably the scariest thing I've ever been witness to in my 43 years on this planet.  The wind was screaming past my front door right at 100 mph.  Had I known that was on the way we would have got the hell out of here.  One tornado took out huge trees right next door, while I only had to replace about five shingles.  That tornado went right over the house while I was putting all 240 pounds of me on the front door trying to close it.  The whistling was like screaming banshees.  The wind was howling.  I mean literally howling.  It still scares me to think about it. For most of my life I wondered what it would be like to ride out a hurricane.  Now I know.  Will I leave or ride it out?  Chances are pretty good I'm outta here.  Many "old-timers" and idiots thought they could ride out another hurricane.  Many of those "old-timers" and idiots didn't make through to tell us all about it.  Don't be an idiot.  Listen to your common sense and watch the advisories.  If this message helps to save your life or someone else's, then I haven't typed this in vain.  Good luck.
1123936
the lightning actually starts in the ground from static electricity...I always thought it was odd starting from ground...
825004
Probably just the weather changing quickly ? We had a thunderstorm a few weeks ago, except it was snowing with it. Really warm before it and really cold afterwards... I'm sure it's nothing to alarm yourself over.
1088869
Lightning happens because of static electricity.  If you've ever gotten a little spark when you touched a doorknob or something metal, that's static electricity.  It happens because electrons (which make electricity) are "gathered up" in some materials when they are rubbed.  When your feet rub on a carpet, electrons from the carpet get picked up by your feet.  Then when you touch a doorknob or something metal, the electrons jump across to the doorknob, making a tiny spark.\n\nLightning is exactly the same thing, but much bigger.  The water in the clouds "rub" against the air, gathering electrons, until finally a huge spark leaps from the clouds to the ground.\n\nThunder happens right after lightning.  It happens because the lightning is so hot that it heats the air around it, making it expand.  Once the lightning is gone, the air rushes back in with a huge "bang" like giant clapping hands.\n\nThunder can be scary because it's so loud and unexpected.  But since thunder always follows lightning, here's what you can do:  When you see a flash of lightning, start counting, "one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi..." and so on until you hear the thunder.  Each "Mississippi" is about one second, and because of the speed of sound each second you count means that the lightning is about one-fifth of a mile away.  So if you can count to "five-Mississippi" before you hear the thunder, that means that the lightning is a mile away.  Knowing that it's that far away makes it not so bad.\n\nI think lightning is pretty neat to watch.  I used to live in the New Mexico desert, and when we had a thunderstorm you could see the lightning branching down from the clouds.  That's a little more interesting than just a bright flash of light.\n\nI hope that knowing more about lightning and thunder will help make it less scary for you.  Try looking up "lightning" on Google, look at some pictures and see how interesting lightning really is.
216173
Could be. You might also feel a tingling in your feet or on your body. If that happens, if your hair stands or you feel tingling outside, esp. when the conditions are right for lightning, HIT THE DIRT! That could make the difference btween living and dying.
341675
There is no reason why you could not be struck by lightning while parachuting but the likelihood of it happening is extremely slim.  As for not "touching the ground", I have personally been in an aircraft as a passenger that was struck by lightning while in flight.  If an aircraft can be hit in flight (ie not touching the ground) then logically, you could be struck.  But, what are the chances that you would be parachuting in weather bad enough to create lightning?
266957
The PHYSICAL PHENOMENON here is called ELECTROSTATIC SHIELDING!\n\nIt says that electrostatic field inside a hollow metal conductor is ZERO! \nThe field will be zero even if the conductor encloses a charge!\n\nHere the CAR can be considered as the conductor,\nSo! even if there is  a million volts of lightning outside! You are safe inside!\nThanks- Hope I helped\nPeace!
464479
he was flying a kit (with a key attach to it) while it's raining. and got shocked by the lightning.\n\nand that's how he discovered electricity
218667
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/pub/ltg/plane_japan.php :-)\n\nFrom what I've been told by people related to the airline industry it happens quite often (even as much as a few times a year).  I'm not sure I believe this, but it is quite common since someone caught this one on video!  But like a car, the frame of a plane is metal, so the lightning passes around the cabin.  I believe the largest danger is due to arcing damaging electrical equipment... but I don't even believe that is an extreme danger as much as a freak event.
1099588
What sort of time frame did you have in mind?  I'd like to know because I'd better be moving to higher ground.  \n\nUsually I don't bother with this sort of thing, but the recent hurricane season has got me thinking that something is up.  \n\nThanks for the warning! \n\nCheers!
789941
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!