Yesterday New Jersey experienced a very wicked storm. It was actually a cluster of thunderstorms called a derecho. These types of storms are very rare and can produce a lot of damage. The storm had buckets of rain, thunder, lightning, and crazy wind. If you happened to be driving during the storm, you might have been worried if you were safe in your vehicle. As a kid I was told that you were safe in your vehicle during lighting because of the rubber tires. Well that is not exactly the reason.
If lightning strikes and you are in your vehicle, you are not protected because of your tires, they act more of a conductor than an insulator. You are safe because the lightning will travel around your vehicle and then strike the ground. In this instance your vehicle is acting like a Faraday Cage. This was a discovery found by Michael Faraday. He found out that items inside a metal cage that was struck by a strong electrical current, were unharmed. So your vehicle, being mostly made from metal, will act as a conductor; the lightning will be safely discharged to the ground.
If you would like to read more about lightning safety, please check out the article here.
No comments:
Post a Comment