I know the tires ground the vehicle but i'm curious if it still possibly electrocutes you.Also,if lightning even strikes a car due to the tires?
2007-05-07 05:44:17 · 5 answers · asked by Menace 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Weather
Yes, lightning can strike the car. No, you'd not be electrocuted. The folks on "Top Gear" tested this very theory.
It's not the tires insulating you. Heck, if the lightning can arc thousands of feet from the clouds to your car, what makes you think ~3 inches of rubber is going to stop it from arcing to the ground?
In fact, you are saved because the car acts like a Faraday cage, keeping the electrical discharge on the outside. As long as you are not in contact with any of the metal components, you'd be just fine.
I watched the program on a YouTube segment -- way cool. See if you can find it.
Oh, and the car worked just fine afterwards. The demonstrator, who was sitting inside the vehicle during the entire test, fired it up and derove it away. Myth busted!!
2007-05-07 05:53:49 · answer #1 · answered by Dave_Stark 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a car will act as a gaussian closed conducting metal surface.
any charge put on it, by lightning or say a downed power line, will not affect the space enclosed. No electric field will exist anywhere in the car (space enclosed) because its a gaussian closed surface.
As long as you don't touch the metal surface, you won't be electrocuted. However, the charge remains on the car's frame because it is not grounded. That's why people stuck in a car when power lines have fallen on them should remain in the car. The rescuers will have to ground the car's frame to remove the charge placed on the car by the power lines.
2007-05-07 05:55:35 · answer #2 · answered by merz_drm 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Human pores and skin is particularly immune to electricity. As is rubber. Water is particularly conductive how ever. electricity is going to the situation of least resistance (the water). lights strikes interior the gap and the electrons interior the sea around you respond yet in straight forward terms minimally. The electrons on your rubber footwear do no longer react in any respect.. The electrons on your physique do no longer react. You stay to tell the tale.
2016-12-28 16:29:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The tyres should insulate you.
It might be a good idea to earth (ground) the car, before stepping out on to the ground
2007-05-07 10:50:20 · answer #4 · answered by rosie recipe 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No because the electrical charge is grounded through the tires.
2007-05-07 05:51:12 · answer #5 · answered by duretteg 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋