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lightning storm

Buttzilla

Buttzilla

Platinum Member
there's an awsome lightning storm in the bay right now and silly me forgot my digi cam at my gf apartment. never seen one before and its amazing. i was on the freeway and all these bright flashes were going off. coming onto the 880 from the 24 i then saw lightning bolts blazing down between the high rises of oakland. i was in aww for the next 30 minutes and wished i had my digital camera. the kewl ones riped horizontally like electric currents running under the clouds. after i got out of the car the air smelled burned. kewl.
 
question...some of them came really close to the freeway. what would happen if a car got struck? how safe are you inside a vehicle?
 
I love thunderstorms!

If your car is stuck u are safe because the tyres insulate it. Makes a loud noise though, and your car probably won't appreciate it 😀
 
heheh thanx, hmmm i seem to recall learning that thunder follows lightening? whats the difference between thunderstorm and lightening storm? time for a google search...
 
The inside of a car is a pretty safe place to be. The metal body (at least they used to be metal) provides a low impedance path for any lightning strike to flow around you -- rather than through you. The tires also provide insulation between you and the ground, making your car a less attractive target for the lightning (it's also the reason you should always stay inside your car whenever electrical wires fall on/over it. Stepping out may make you the conductor between the hot wirse on your car and the ground.)
 
Originally posted by: crisp82
I love thunderstorms!

If your car is stuck u are safe because the tyres insulate it. Makes a loud noise though, and your car probably won't appreciate it 😀
Click to expand...
Rubber tires are as good as copper tires when it comes to lightning - there's not nearly enough insulation to isolate lightning...
 
Originally posted by: Buttzilla
heheh thanx, hmmm i seem to recall learning that thunder follows lightening? whats the difference between thunderstorm and lightening storm? time for a google search...
Click to expand...
Thunder is the sound of the rapid expansion of air due to heat because of the lightning strike
 
i'm in san jose and there is a crapload of lightning AND thunder going on here. At the peak, I was seeing a bolt of lightning every 3-4 seconds.

-patchy
 
Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
The inside of a car is a pretty safe place to be. The metal body (at least they used to be metal) provides a low impedance path for any lightning strike to flow around you -- rather than through you. The tires also provide insulation between you and the ground, making your car a less attractive target for the lightning (it's also the reason you should always stay inside your car whenever electrical wires fall on/over it. Stepping out may make you the conductor between the hot wirse on your car and the ground.)
Click to expand...

So lightning strikes your car from hundreds of feet in the air but it wont jump the 4 inches from your car to the ground
rolleye.gif


-Xionide
 
From San Jose here too. Just took a friend home about an hour ago and we stood outside his house to watch the light show for awhile. Haven't seen lightning like this in a long time.

Started raining pretty hard on the way back though. Now my car is all dirty and I just washed it this past weekend. 🙁
 
Originally posted by: Xionide
Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
The inside of a car is a pretty safe place to be. The metal body (at least they used to be metal) provides a low impedance path for any lightning strike to flow around you -- rather than through you. The tires also provide insulation between you and the ground, making your car a less attractive target for the lightning (it's also the reason you should always stay inside your car whenever electrical wires fall on/over it. Stepping out may make you the conductor between the hot wirse on your car and the ground.)
Click to expand...

So lightning strikes your car from hundreds of feet in the air but it wont jump the 4 inches from your car to the ground
rolleye.gif


-Xionide
Click to expand...


If I remember correctly, doesn't lightning start at the ground and work its way up?
 
well guys i was watching your nice lightning over there in the bay. i couldnt hear any thunder cause i was probably 50 plus miles away but the lightning was cool. was watching for about 45 mins. btw am in modesto
 
Originally posted by: AngryPirate
Originally posted by: Xionide
Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
The inside of a car is a pretty safe place to be. The metal body (at least they used to be metal) provides a low impedance path for any lightning strike to flow around you -- rather than through you. The tires also provide insulation between you and the ground, making your car a less attractive target for the lightning (it's also the reason you should always stay inside your car whenever electrical wires fall on/over it. Stepping out may make you the conductor between the hot wirse on your car and the ground.)
Click to expand...

So lightning strikes your car from hundreds of feet in the air but it wont jump the 4 inches from your car to the ground
rolleye.gif


-Xionide
Click to expand...


If I remember correctly, doesn't lightning start at the ground and work its way up?
Click to expand...
No.

It probably depends on the type of lightning, but sometimes there is an arc moving upward from the ground, and they meet..

There is a pretty famous National Geographic picture of this phenomenon..
 
Doesn't your car turn into an example of a Faraday cage when struck by lightning, regardless of tires, which is what keeps you protected?
 
We've got a HUGE storm blowing through here right now. Lighting and thundering and raining like crazy. It knocked out our power for a few seconds two times already in the past 15 minutes.

I love storms!


(Do you have it where you are, Ralli?
 
...I just noticed how long winded I am. Nevermind this post...

We had very bad storms roll through here about 6 hours ago... I'm a network engineer at a local high school... we have about 400 students in the building I was in today. Keep in mind that this building is still under construction because of replacing the roof over the summer (contractors are running late). The wind started picking up... I could hear things shifting on the roof... and soon the rain came pouring down. Remembering that one of the roof splits is directly over where one of our computer labs is, I walked over there, and proceeded to place an emergency page to the head of maintenance, and asked him to bring buckets with him. I was moving computers, and boxes with new computers in them, to avoid the small stream of water coming in through the leaky roof and drop ceiling.

Walking down the hallway... the power fails, which, of course, makes the safety alarm panic, and it closes all fire doors. In midst of re-opening the fire doors via key, I remember that one of the main wiring closets doesn't have battery backup at the moment. We were without power for only about 10 seconds, until the generated came up to speed enough to carry the entire load. That's long enough for a network switch to go down. Wouldn't you know... the main fiber distribution switch went down, and refused to reboot for about 30 minutes. Yippee. No network for that building for about half an hour.

Mean while... I love storms. I just wanted to find a digital camera and take pictures. Alas, no digital cameras in the building. 🙁

Drew
 
Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
Originally posted by: crisp82
I love thunderstorms!

If your car is stuck u are safe because the tyres insulate it. Makes a loud noise though, and your car probably won't appreciate it 😀
Click to expand...
Rubber tires are as good as copper tires when it comes to lightning - there's not nearly enough insulation to isolate lightning...
Click to expand...

Of course not, if your car is the only thing sitting on a dirt field, then you're pretty much fvcked. But if you are sitting in your car next to a guy standing outside your car on a dirt field, guess which one is gonna get hit first? It's not about stopping lightning, it's about making your car less likely to be hit.
 
Originally posted by: Xionide
Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
The inside of a car is a pretty safe place to be. The metal body (at least they used to be metal) provides a low impedance path for any lightning strike to flow around you -- rather than through you. The tires also provide insulation between you and the ground, making your car a less attractive target for the lightning (it's also the reason you should always stay inside your car whenever electrical wires fall on/over it. Stepping out may make you the conductor between the hot wirse on your car and the ground.)
Click to expand...

So lightning strikes your car from hundreds of feet in the air but it wont jump the 4 inches from your car to the ground
rolleye.gif


-Xionide
Click to expand...


I propose an experiment. We find a large, open, poorly drained parking lot with nothing sticking up in the air and go there during a thunderstorm. I'll drive. Once we get there you get out and stand barefoot in a puddle and I'll sit in the car.
 
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