In a lightning storm would you be safer (more grounded) in a car or in a house without lightning rods?

Answer 1

This is taken from an article I used with my earth science students.

Over 1,000 people get struck by lightning every year in the United States, and over 100 of them die as a result of the strike. Lightning is not something to toy with.
If you are caught outside in a storm, always look for appropriate shelter. Do not take any chances -- lightning can use you as a path to the earth just as easily as it can use any other object. Appropriate shelter would be a building or a car. If you do not have anywhere to go, then you should avoid taking shelter under trees. Trees attract lightning. Put your feet as close together as possible and crouch down with your head as low as possible without touching the ground.

Never lay down on the ground. After lightning strikes the ground, there is an electric potential that radiates outward from the point of contact. If your body is in this area, current can flow through you. You never want the current to have the ability to pass through your body. This could cause cardiac arrest, not to mention other organ damage and burns. By making your body as low to the ground as possible and minimizing the amount of your body in contact with the ground, you can lower the possibility of a lightning-related injury. If a strike were to occur near you, the current would have a much more difficult time flowing through your body in this position.

If you are indoors, stay off the phone. If you must call someone, use a cordless phone or cell phone. If lightning strikes the phone line, the strike will travel to every phone on the line (and potentially to you if you are holding the phone).

Stay away from plumbing pipes (bath tub, shower). Lightning has the ability to strike a house or near a house and impart an electrical charge to the metal pipes used for plumbing. This threat is not as great as it used to be, because PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is often used for indoor plumbing these days. If you are not sure what your pipes are made of, wait it out.

A couple of misconceptions:
Rubber tires keep you safe in a car because they do not conduct electricity.
Nope. In strong electric fields, rubber tires actually become more conductive than insulating. The reason you are safe in a car is because the lightning will travel around the surface of the vehicle and then go to ground. This occurs because the vehicle acts like a Faraday cage. Michael Faraday, a British physicist, discovered that a metal cage would shield objects within the cage when a high potential discharge hit the cage. The metal, being a good conductor, would direct the current around the objects and discharge it safely to the ground. This process of shielding is widely used today to protect the electrostatic sensitive integrated circuits in the electronics world.

The tallest objects in a storm always get struck by lightning.
It's true that taller objects are closer to the clouds, but as discussed previously, lightning can strike the ground at a close distance to a tall object. Taller objects may have a higher possibility of a strike, but where lightning is concerned, the strike path is not predictable.

Answer 2

Actually, more people survive lightning storms outside, than inside. So you're more safer in a car (insulation from the rubber), inside people are clueless and think they're safe, but think about telephones, 2% of people are electicuted, through the telephone line, i don't have a source, but I watched this show on the Discovery Channel called Dr. Know, and he went into this investigation, so you'll have to believe me

Answer 3

Lightning can strike both, however, a house is generally made of wood and wood products and subject to burn down; whereas in a car, the lightning will usually travel through the metal structures of the car and dissapate into the ground.

Answer 4

In a house don't believe the hype that a car will protect you from lightning. It may but only if all the windows are rolled completely up and the vents are closed.

Answer 5

A car has a metal frame which is an excellent conductor of electricity ; a house is built with a wooden frame (majority i guess) ....i'd rather be in a house than a car in a lightning storm ^_^;;;

Answer 6

In the car because the tires are rubber (your car does have rubber tires doesn't it?) and rubber acts like a lightning rod.

Answer 7

um both are safe but in a car your surrounded by rubber too so any where theres rubber!

Answer 8

In a house, no question

Answer 9

In a house, but you would be fine either way.

Answer 10

if it your day to go by lightning, you ain't safe either place.