Can you get struck by lightning thru glass?

Answer 1

Glass is a much better insulator than air. An insulator is measured by its dielectric strength and breakdown voltage. Glass has a dielectric strength that is approximately 2500 kV/inch. This means that it takes 2500 kV (2.5 million Volts) or more to make a current flow through an inch of glass. Most windows are not that thick, but are more on the order of 1/8 of an inch thick which would require about 600,000 V to cause a breakdown. This is in contrast to air which has a 20 kV/inch dielectric strength. Since lightning typically has a voltage of 10 to over 120 million Volts, it can easily go through glass. However, it is more likely to travel through other structures of the house containing the glass on its way to Earth ground. This is because the glass is such a good insulator compared to other construction materials.

Answer 2

Yes. Insulating materials like glass, rubber, plastic Teflon, etc. each have a physical parameter called a 'dielectric value'. This is a measure of how hard it is to break them down with high voltage. Now, lightning has a really, really high voltage.

The dielectric value of air is about 10,000 volts per inch. That means you need a voltage of about 10,000 volts to get air to break down so that you can get a spark across a one-inch air gap. Most other materials have a higher dielectric value.

Now, suppose that there is a low-hanging cloud up there; from which lightning is about to jump down as a spark to the earth. Suppose the cloud is 1/10 mile up, that is 528 feet, or 6336 inches. Multiply that by 10,000 voltes per inch, and you will see that the voltage of the lightning is 633,600,000; yeah, over six hundred million volts.

You'd have to have really thick glass or platic or whatever, for lightning not to be able to punch its way through it. Not to say it could not be done, but it is unlikely. There are better ways of protecting ourselves from lightning.

Lots of people think that they are safe from lightning when they are in a car, because of the rubber tires on the ground. If you will think about it for a moment, you will realize that if the lightning can jump from the cloud to the ground, it can jump those few extra inches past the tires.

Now, being in a car DOES help to protect you from lightning, but for a different reason. The lightning likes to take the path of least resistance. Metals have low resistance, compared to insulators.

(That's why lightning rods are made of metal, rather than insulators-- let the lightning hit the rod, rather than the building! Provide an easy path to the ground, to keep it away from where you don't want it to go.)

So, if you are in a car and the lightning hits the car, the lightning will probably flow through the metal skin of the car, AROUND you, instead of through you, and then it jumps the last few inches to the ground (past the tires.) See?

Answer 3

Glass is not a good conductor of electricity, but I wouldn't go standing in front of my window during an intense lightning storm wearing a metal suit and standing in a pool of water next to an electrical outlet. That's just asking for it.

Answer 4

Yes, however glass is usually connected to a structure that has a metal frame which shields you from the strike (Faraday Ice Pail- Charge resides on the outside). I don't know too many windows in the middle of nowhere.

Answer 5

yes, with out a doubt.
lightning has enough force to penitrate at least 100 feet of any material. it can travel for more than a mile in the open atmoshpere.

in fact you are not nesicerily safe indoors during a storn. you are safer in a care thanks to the metal that surrounds you(NOT RUBBER TIRES) the lightning would simply rather go through the car than you.

Answer 6

Yes, I know from personal experience.

Answer 7

Don't know of any reports of anyone who actually has- an open window, yes.

Answer 8

It is unlikely, but it is possible.

Answer 9

no... glass is an insulator..